Sugar Queen
by GND-KicaCris
Summary: A year after Ralph's game jumping adventure, Litwak decides that it's time to revamp the arcade and upgrades several of his most popular games. The Core Four seems to be adjusting well to the changes on their lives, until Vanellope's (new) older sister and queen of Sugar Rush 2 introduces herself as the game's new Bad Guy. Will she mean trouble? (Ralph/OC) (WITH BETA READER)
1. Update uploaded!

A.N.: All right! This is a little something I wrote the other day. My general idea on what I think could more or less happen in a WIR sequel since apparently they are already discussing some ideas for the plot. If you like this please review so I can get encouraged to keep writing it ok?

My apologies in advance to any grammatical mistake. English is not my first language after all but I believe I do my best on it. Constructive critics and corrections will be all well received.

Thank you and please enjoy!

**Chapter 1: Update uploaded!**

Ralph blinked several times, trying to adjust his vision after waking up. He could hear his alarm clock buzzing frantically, its repetitive blare telling him that the arcade would open in one hour. He mentally cursed the day Felix had given him the damn machine; sure, he had told him that it was for his (and the game's) own good since Ralph was a notorious heavy sleeper and for almost always showing up just in time for their first quarter alert, and for that reason he had accepted the gift heartily.

But since the first day the clock had been put into use, Ralph had regretted it heartily too; the darn thing had turned out to be much noisier and irritating than what he had expected. He wondered if Felix had chosen that special model knowing for sure that the sound would wake him up no matter what. He'd have even bet anything that his wife had also been involved in the selection process.

'_Bad guys are not morning people,' _he remembered Zangief saying to him once in a Bad-Anon meeting, when mentioning his current "war" with Felix's gift.

Moving under the bed sheets while grunting, he managed to stretch one of his gargantuan hands to his nightstand to finally silence his loud nemesis, letting it fall freely over the snooze bottom, still amazed that this motion didn't destroy the tiny clock.

With his hand still lingering over the nightstand, he began his daily routine of forcing his brain to wake up. It used to be much easier to do this when his bed was made of bricks; just a few rays of sunlight sneaking through the game console screen were enough to wake him up in an instant. But with his new home and much softer bed, he found mornings much more difficult to deal with, especially since their newly regained popularity had been constantly leaving him exhausted to a point that sometimes he fell asleep in the _Sugar Rush_ palace while he was visiting his best friend.

"Bad guys are not morning people…," he muttered against the pillow while trying to open his eyes, rolling over onto his back. Though his vision was still too blurred with drowsiness, he could tell that something felt different that morning. His code felt weird, his entire body felt sore and slightly 'glitchy'. He tried to readjust his vision again, trying his best to shake off the stupor but his brain was still refusing to wake up. The bed felt uncharacteristically warm and soft, something he'd never noticed before, at least not with so much detail that is. He rustled again under the mattress and turned over onto his side, facing the nightstand.

Yawning, his eyes wandered over to the clock, and when his vision finally focused, something got his attention. The clock's typical red numbers clearly read '6:15a.m.', but he did not remember the lamp on the nightstand being so… round on the edges. "Uh…that's weird."

He then looked at the chair besides the window, the walls, the ceiling, the door… He rubbed his eyes with one hand and felt something strange while rubbing his eyelid. He looked at his hand and noticed that he was wearing a fingerless brown leather glove.

"Wha-what the-," finally waking up, he rose up and looked at both of his big hands, confused by the new accessories on both of them. Then he noticed he was also fully dressed in his game attire, something odd since he remembered having gone to sleep last night with nothing else but his overalls. Standing out of the bed to better inspect himself, he found out ungracefully that the ceiling had also become much lower than he remembered. "Ouch! Just what in _Atari_'s name-?!"

_"RALPH! RALPH ARE YOU AWAKE?!" _He suddenly heard a faintly familiar voice accompanied with a couple of hurried knocks at his door. _"RALPH, PLEASE OPEN UP!" _It was Felix and he sounded urgent.

Bowing his head, he exited his bedroom, crossed the main hall and the kitchen until he reached the front door. Everything in the house looked different, smaller and even… much more detailed? "Cut the banging Felix! I'm…" But when he opened the door to greet the game's protagonist, he found himself speechless at the sight before him. "…awake?"

Felix looked up at him in wide-eyed shock, Ralph mimicking his expression.

The short handyman was dressed differently that day, wearing a pair of dark blue suspenders over a vibrant yellow shirt and a noticeably bigger and more fully equipped construction belt, with other different kinds of repair tools joining alongside his always trusty golden hammer. Same blue jeans, brown boots and gloves, though Ralph noticed more visible stitches on the fabric. The wrecker arched an eyebrow a realization finally struck him while he was looking at Felix's face.

"Jiminy jaminy Ralph! They made you taller?! That's not fair," his shorter friend pointed out, smiling awkwardly at him.

"You-what happened to you?" Ralph exclaimed in confusion. "You-you're…" He struggled to find the right words.

"Not 8-Bit anymore? I know!" Felix managed to find the words for him while picking the peak of his blue cap proudly with his gloved right hand. "But look at you! You're almost as tall as Bowser! And it looks like you lost some weight in the middle section brother, haha! Good for you," he chirped with amusement.

It was then that Ralph took full notice of his own physics. Except for the addition of his new brown fingerless gloves, his attire hadn't changed much, but his body was another story. He was indeed a few inches taller, his arms and barrel chest looked a little more toned than before and he noticed with delight that the wobbly bulk of his stomach was replaced with a much toned middle section. He felt much stronger, and he could tell that his new memory code was shifting with new and intense impulses for wrecking things.

"All right, this is… nice and all but… what just happened?" he asked, looking at Felix quizzically.

"Well, my first guess is that we must have gotten upgraded. Litwak must have installed the new game program while we were all asleep," he answered, his eyebrows low over his eyes.

"What?!" he asked in an alarmed tone. "Wait, and you didn't know about this?!"

"No! I didn't have a clue," Felix said in his defense. "The Surge Protector is supposed to be the one in charge of informing the arcade about this kind of stuff, but he didn't do it. Though I did hear a rumor from Yuni that Litwak was planning on revamping the store with new and more modern games but she didn't say a thing about upgrading the old ones! And we're not the only ones who suffered changes. Come with me!"

Felix walked a few steps ahead, Ralph following closely behind. They reached the top of a short hill next to his house, something that Ralph clearly remembered not being there before but chose to ignore it, and gasped at the view in front of them beyond the hill.

"Sweet Mother Hubbard," he exclaimed softly while Felix looked at him with his hands on his belt. There, where the old _Niceland_ building had stood, now proudly stood several buildings and small houses too, covering the newly vast land of their game, the new additions stretching far into the horizon. He noticed a billboard near the hill with a picture of Gene, who was now wearing a white ribbon with the word 'Mayor' on it, winking and announcing in a cartoonish speech bubble, '_Welcome to Nicetown, the nicest place in the county!_'

"We-we have a city now!" Ralph said eagerly, mesmerized by the new size of their home world. _Sugar Rush_ didn't have anything for them to envy now.

"Yep, though I still haven't checked the new game story but it's seems that now you and I will have an awful lot more work to do," Felix said, scratching the back of his neck while a smile spread across his face. Following Felix's train of thought, Ralph began to wonder about how much wrecking he was now in charge of when reality hit him again.

"Wait, let's not change the subject here Felix," Ralph said heatedly. "This is bad! Or technically could have been bad! We could have been unplugged! Our memories could have been wiped out without any of us able to do anything about it because no one gave us a heads up!" The wrecker could feel his programmed temper rising sharply.

The short handyman sighed, drooping his shoulders. "I know brother… I really need to speak with the Surge Protector and ask him why we weren't informed about this, but there's no need to cry over spilled milk now, really. At least we're all fine and our memories are intact. Look, I still remember I'm happily married to Tammy." He proved his point by showing his wedding ring to him. "And I also remember dear little Vanellope and everything we've been through all these years! Look, I promise I'll handle the matter with Surge… just try to look at the bright side here!" Felix reassured him with his typical confidence and shining white smile.

Ralph checked his own memories and discovered that Felix was correct and he didn't seem to have lost any important data, though it was not like he could be completely sure of it. He glanced at the new and beautiful imagery of their home and smiled warmly.

"I guess you're right… speaking of the Sergeant, wasn't she with you last night?" he asked him in an uncertain tone. He was worried that Calhoun had stayed in their game when their program got updated.

"Oh no, she's safe, thanks the heavens above," Felix said reassuringly. "It was her turn on perimeter check at their base and she stayed in _Hero's Duty_ for the night. Phew! I don't want to imagine what could have happened if she was here during the update!"

Pushing his final worries away, Ralph sighed in relief, pleased that their surprise update hadn't caused any casualties. "Talk about luck. All right, so shall we check on the Nicelanders and the new town?"

-0-0-0-

After quickly checking on everyone and meeting a lot of the new Nicelanders, Ralph and Felix took their usual positions at the game screen when they heard the sound of the arcade's doors opening. Mr. Litwak's voice boomed through the thick glass of the console. He was announcing the renewal of the store and sounded very excited about it. Last year had been excellent for the business thanks to the addition of _Hero's Duty_ and the mysterious new changes that both _Fix-it Felix Jr._ and _Sugar Rush Speed Way_ had displayed.

_"Welcome everyone! We have some exciting novelties for all of you! Several of our popular games have been updated to their most modern versions, including some of our classic ones. Pretty exciting, isn't it? You are all welcome to check them all out! Oh! And I'm proud to announce that we have also switched out our Nintendo Home System console for a brand new Nintendo Wii Console Modulator for all of you much younger ones who are…well more into the more up-to-date games I guess… of course we don't have ALL the games there are in the franchise, for now we have the fantastic (and more importantly) multiplayable 'Super Smash-..something' which I've heard is quite a favorite among y'all. It's a fighting game with famous characters from what they have told me… so I bet it's gonna be quite fun. Therefore, with nothing else to add, enjoy your day!"_

The whole place got louder with the crowd's excitement when suddenly Mr. Litwak's voice echoed again.

_"Oh I almost forgot! __Sugar Rush Speed Way 2 is still calibrating so it won't be available today but please return tomorrow to try it out, ok kids?"_

Ralph and Felix secretly exchanged worried looks after listening to Litwaks' final statement but quickly changed back to their fake facial expressions at the sound of their first quarter alert. _'Oh no…please Atari, let the kid be fine…' _Ralph mentally prayed while the game intro played on the screen.

-0-0-0-

_"All clear! The Arcade's closed,"_ shouted Yuni after Mr. Litwak locked the doors.

Ralph came out of the Niceplaza fountain_, _spitting water out and trying to catch his breath. He had been fighting Felix all over the city and had unceremoniously fallen into the fountain on the principal avenue, when the last gamer finally defeated him at his 3rd boss-level. So far, their new game mode consisted of Felix and Ralph fighting over wrecking/fixing the new city of _Nicetown,_ which, according to the back-story, had been fully built one year after Ralph left the old _Niceland_ as a consequence of his first defeat. He returned stronger and meaner with the burning resolution of finally putting an end to the famous handyman's good doings.

It was pretty much the same basic gameplay, though now Felix had to physically fight him some times, mainly by jumping on his head to lower his health while using his golden hammer to deflect buildings that Ralph would occasionally hurl at him. Ralph found the new game mode incredibly fun, even though it was clearly more physically demanding, but thanks to his updated physiology he was prepared to endure the new challenge.

But Felix was another story. During the first 10 quarter alerts, the short handyman had a lot of trouble adjusting himself to the new game mode and found the notion of directly fighting Ralph at the end of each level completely outrageous.

Ralph shook the water off of himself and stepped out of the fountain. He had to admit that it was a pleasant change to be thrown into something cleaner than mud. "Ralph! Oh brother, are you all right?! I'm so sorry!" Felix jumped off the nearest roof, worried that his giant of a friend had gotten angry after their last battle.

"Would you relax already? It's all part of the game Felix, nothing more," Ralph assured him with a chuckle. "You better get used to it soon or the gamers will get bored of us. You have to fight me back."

"I know… it's just… the game got so violent! I just can't understand it." Felix's voice held a note of disapproval.

"It's just like what Mario and Bowser went through the first time they got upgraded brother, don't over think it too much," Ralph told him dismissively. "These are different times and kids like more violent stuff now. And honestly we are not THAT violent, trust me." Ralph still remembered the last time they had visited _Street Fighter_.

"You might be right. Maybe I should ask Mario for some advice," Felix said, though he was still unsure.

"Let's talk about it later, I need to find out if the kid is all right," Ralph said firmly and started walking to their new train station with Felix following right behind.

-0-0-0-

Just as they were stepping out of the terminal for _Fix-it Felix Jr. 2: Wreck-it Ralph's Return!, _Ralph and Felix found the familiar face of Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun Fix-It waiting for them.

"Well, well, well… just look at that high definition on your face," Calhoun smirked with a slight blush, remembering the very first words her husband had told her the first day they met.

Felix blushed profusely and grinned like a fool. "Sweetie pie! Have you been waiting for us all this time? What happened to your armor?" He quickly jumped to her and gave her a peck on her cheek. Ralph noticed that she was wearing a newer and heavier looking dark bluish armor.

"Litwak happened; you weren't the only ones who got a fancy upgrade around here, though ours is more like an 'expansion' of our world: bigger cy-bugs, bigger weapons," she said cockily.

Felix and Ralph looked at her incredulously, "Bigger cy-bugs," they both exclaimed.

"Yep, pretty neat if I may say so, though no gamer was able to pass Level 2 today, much to my enjoyment," she said blowing her bangs in annoyance. She took it very personally when gamers couldn't prove their worth to her.

"Anyways, I was waiting for both of you here because I heard what Litwak said about the squirrel's game. We need to check her perimeter right now. I looked at her cabinet before coming here and seemed like the calibration was finally over because the screen was lit up like a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving," she said with concern but with a steeled expression etched to her face.

Ralph nodded with determination. "All right, let's move out then," he said.

But just as he took his first step out of the game portal, the familiar sound of the Surge Protector firewall alarm rang as he passed through the gate, and the aforementioned blue man appeared with his trusty clipboard in hand. Ralph groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. He was in no mood to deal with this; honestly, he never was.

"Names?" the three of them heard.

"Wreck-it Ralph", Ralph said in an annoyed tone.

"Fix-it Felix Jr.," the handyman sang politely. "We come from the game Fix-it Felix Jr. 2 dear sir! No food or funny business here!"

The Surge Protector barely arched an eyebrow at him, but quickly returned his gaze to his clipboard. "Right… how has the update been going? Any bugs to declare?"

Ralph just couldn't believe the guy. "Really," he asked, gritting his teeth. "**We** have to report these things to you now? Why didn't **you** report the update to us in the first place?!"

Felix watched his bad guy nervously; he didn't want Ralph to start a fight with the Surge Protector when they were in such a hurry.

The SP sighed audibly, his eyes never leaving his clipboard. "My apologies… Litwak did this without any warnings. We are doing all the damage control we can. Please understand that sometimes these things can escape from our control."

Ralph didn't buy it, but then again, he rarely believed the word of the Surge Protectors.

Felix cleared his throat. "Well it's fine… we'll discuss this later sir, but can we please go now? We want to check on our friend in Sugar Rush." The handyman was silently praying they could get going before Ralph could snap again.

The Surge Protector finally lifted his eyes from the clipboard to look at Felix. "Right… As always I see," he answered a subtle tone of sarcasm. "The game just finished calibrating so please do not cause any… 'commotion' to the game just yet." He was eyeing Ralph from the corner of his eyes.

"Of course we won't sir, don't worry," Felix chanted gallantly while Ralph just looked away, annoyed.

"Right… I'll let you go now, provided you-"

"Hold it Sparky," Calhoun barked out. "You must know what kind of upgrade Litwak gave them, so speak up civilian! Just what exactly did Litwak do to Sugar Rush that the game had to take so much time to calibrate?" The Sergeant was glaring daggers at him. Ralph couldn't blame her. They needed to be mentally prepared for whatever news they were going to face.

The surge looked at her, unfazed by her commanding tone and rolled his eyes with a snort. He always found amusing it how these particular characters acted like they were some sort of real family. "I'm not allowed to divulge that kind of information with characters in general… but if this will encourage you to behave, then so be it!"

It took every ounce of Ralph's will to not pummel the Surge Protector into the floor of the station, extremely annoyed by his behavior and tone.

The SP flipped thru several pages of his clipboard until he finally stopped at one near the back. He quickly scanned it with his eyebrows knit in a straight line. "Let's see here… some new racetrack… some new race vehicles… new avatar customization…"

"Any memory changes?" Felix asked him with a twinge of worry.

"Nope, Litwak didn't change the cabinet's memory card," he said dismissively. "That way, the gamers' high score records would be kept intact. He did this with all of the upgraded games. That's why all of you still remember each other. I don't see any major changes to be concerned about." This last piece of information earned him a collective sigh of relief from the three characters.

"Oh wait," he said, readjusting his glasses to read better. "There **is** something…"

The sigh of relief the three had let out was instantly sucked back in as the SP scanned through the document.

"It's says here that they have a **new bad-guy**," he stated matter-of-factly, ignoring the unified gasp of Ralph and the Fix-Its.

"New bad-guys are always trouble," he commented dryly. "I must inform Mario about this once he returns from the Mushroom Kingdom." The Surge started to walk away from them, still scanning his clipboard.

"Hey wait a minute,' Ralph bellowed. "Just what kind of bad-guy is this?!"

"No idea," replied the SP as blue sparks began coalescing around his squat form. "Princess Vanellope has to come out first to inform us. I suggest you all be careful if you are still planning on going in there." And with that the Surge Protector disappeared in a streak of blue lightning.

"Jeepers," Felix squeaked, wringing his hat in his gloved hands. "A new bad-guy! This is bad! We haven't had a new bad guy for years!"

Calhoun watched her husband's sudden onset panic with mild confusion. "Pardon my ignorance but why exactly is this bad?" However, Felix was still locked in his little anxiety attack, so Calhoun simply turned to regard Ralph with a questioning glare. "Wreck-It, you're the expert here… Never thought I'd say those words… I thought you said that bad-guys weren't really bad."

Ralph bashfully rubbed the back of his neck, Calhoun's questioning eyes seeming to bore right through him. "Yeah well that's true, but…" he said, trying to avoid the sergeant's intense gaze.

"But," Calhoun echoed, a noticeable ire rising in her voice.

**"But only when the bad-guy already knows it's just a job,"** he replied quietly, turning towards the _Sugar Rush _terminal and marching onward before Calhoun could ask any more questions.

-0-0-0-

Please leave a review and thank you for reading!

Check my gallery on DA (GND-KicaCris) and my Tumblr (KicaCris) to see some of the art of the story!

Next chapter will be up soon!


	2. Bad Guy Hunt

A.N.: WOW! What a great first chapter response! Didn't see that coming at all! Thank you guys!

Anyway, here goes the second chapter as soon as I promised. It got so long that I decided to publish this part here and the rest on the third chapter, which as you may guess will also be uploaded soon enough.

Again, I apologize in regards of any grammatical or narrative mistake. Constructive criticism and corrections will be well received.

ENJOY!

**Chapter 2: Bad Guy Hunt**

"Slow down Wreck-It!"

Ralph heard Calhoun scream behind him as he charged through the tunnel leading to _Sugar_ _Rush_ _2_. But he wouldn't listen, not until he got into the game. He finally stopped when the sight of _Sugar_ _Rush's_ magnificent, candy-coated landscape came into view at the top of the rainbow bridge. He wasn't sure if the game looked any different since the colossal size of the world made it hard to tell.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he waited for Calhoun and Felix to catch up with him. "I never thought you could be a runner," the sergeant said with a mocking smirk on her face. "Must be those new muscles." Ralph rolled his eyes at her remark.

"Be nice Tammy, he's just worried about Vanellope," Felix reminded her gently.

"Right, right, right, sorry," she said, offering an apologetic smile. "So, shall we head straight to the castle?"

"That's the plan," Ralph replied with a determined look in his eyes. He wanted every precaution on hand and ready, which led him to a question he still couldn't believe he was about to ask. "Calhoun? Did you bring any of your guns with you by chance?"

She walked forward a few steps until she was at his side, looking at him from the corner of her eye and jerking her thumb at her backpack. "Never leave home without them, but do you really think we'll need them? It's not like a candy-themed character in some colorful kart could do too much damage to us, right?"

Ralph wasn't so sure. "Bad-guys don't necessarily follow the same physical or psychological designs as the rest of a game's NPCs or the protagonist. I mean look at me and Felix. We have to be careful, especially if this bad-guy completely believes their original programming." In silence, the trio began to descend the Rainbow Bridge into Vanellope's kingdom.

"I just want to make sure the kid is safe," Ralph said, finally breaking the silence and turning to look at his friends, worry etched all over his face.

Felix couldn't help but beam with pride at his friend's caring nature. "Don't worry brother," the short handyman declared, stomping one foot heroically. "We'll make sure the new guy gets the message, right my lady?"

Calhoun chuckled at her husband's bravery, flashing him a proud smile. "Damn right short stack," she said, fixing Ralph with a determined grin.

Ralph smiled at them, once again reminded how lucky he was to have friends like them.

-0-0-0-

They walked all the way to the_castle, moving_ with precaution and watching their backs with each step. Funny how such a cutesy game had once again turned into a dangerous place in such a short time; Calhoun had even brought out her rifle, ready in case anything tried to ambush them.

But they didn't find one single sign of the expected 'bad-guy' or any kind of potential threat for that matter.

Reaching the massive doors of the palace, Ralph knocked as softly as he could and waited patiently. Not five minutes later, one of the doors opened slightly and the three of them had to look down to regard the ever-gloomy green majordomo of the palace.

"Mmmyes," Sour Bill asked them in his usual monotonous tone.

"Hey cough-drop, long time no see! How is everything?" Ralph smirked, trying to be polite to the tiny servant.

"If I'm correct, you just visited yesterday so I don't see your point…Wreck-It Ralph," Sour Bill told him, frowning at the wrecker.

"Right… well, we just wanted to check on Vanellope and-."

"She is in the throne room preparing her kart for the Random Roster Race, as usual," he interrupted him rudely while opening the door widely. "Go ahead. I've more important things to do." He said turned away and walked off into another hallway of the castle.

Ralph sniggered at the grumpy candy, long adjusted to his _sour_ demeanor. "Well, that clears my suspicions of him being the new bad guy," he said as he walked inside.

"You really thought so, Ralph?" Felix asked. "I've always believed that deep down he cares for Vanellope just as much as we do." Felix took a peek down the hallway Sour Bill had walked off to.

They walked all the way through the central hallway of the castle until they reached the throne room, where they heard loud Japanese music being played. The elegant old 'salmon' room had been transformed into some sort of mechanic's garage, decorated with all kinds of candy pieces, scattered tools and spare parts all over the floor. It even smelled like the Kart Bakery, though it looked more like a cooking recipe had gone wrong in every possible way.

Right in the middle of all the sweet chaos, Ralph, Felix and Calhoun found the young monarch of the candy themed kingdom covered in chocolate syrup, icing stains and sugar powder, fixing what Ralph remembered to be the default white kart of King Candy, parked next to Vanellope's signature kart, the very one he had helped her build a year ago. She was under the aforementioned kart, humming along with the game's theme song.

Ralph cleared his throat to catch the president's attention and she clumsily hit her head on the chassis of the white kart, cursing painfully.

"Ouch! How many times do I have to tell you not to do that when I'm working, Sour-puss?!" she said, peeking her head out from under the kart just to find a massive pair of feet instead of tiny green ones. Her hazel eyes looked up to find the smiling face of her giant of a best friend.

"Ralph!" she shouted excitedly, getting out quickly and glitching up to his head to hug him. "I didn't expect you to visit so early! Sarge! Hammer time! You guys came too! Boy, I'm sorry for the mess!" She jumped down to the floor and smiled awkwardly at them, remembering the last time Felix had scolded her for her manners. "I wasn't expecting you guys to come to the castle since you usually go directly to the Startling Line."

Calhoun shouldered her rifle, rolling her eyes while Felix smiled at her. "Relax kiddo, we didn't come here to play parent today," the Sergeant said, chuckling.

"Though I would say that this is no place for a mechanic's shop, Vanellope. What if you receive an important visitor-," Felix started saying.

"Anyways," Ralph cut him off, deciding to get to the point. "We came early because we wanted to know how you were doing after the game's upgrade." Vanellope looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

"Really? Well… aside from the fact that I got the default Royal White Marzipan kart back, I haven't really checked it out yet. I was just about to go out to lead the Random Roster Race as usual, but decided to change some parts of the new kart with the old one so my actual kart can go even faster. It's a miracle it didn't get deleted after the update!" She signaled both karts with a bright smile. "And I still got my glitch superpower so there's no need for you guys to be worried."

Ralph looked at her curiously while the Fix-Its exchanged looks with each other. "You don't know yet?" the wrecker asked.

"Uh… know what exactly? Can you be more specific, Stinkbrain?" she asked in her playful tone.

"The Surge Protector told us there was a new bad guy in _Sugar_ _Rush_ Van," Felix told her softly, frowning in concern.

"WHAT?!" Vanellope exclaimed wide eyed. "I didn't know that!"

"How can you not know that," Ralph asked, completely confused. "It has to be in your memory code!" Had the Surge Protector been mistaken?

Vanellope blinked at him repeatedly, leaning her head to one side while pouting in thought. She thought, and thought, and thought deeply but nothing came to her mind. "Nope, I don't have a clue what you're talking about chump. I don't remember anything about any new bad guy."

"Can the Surge Protector be wrong about this kind of stuff?" Calhoun asked her husband directly.

"I don't think so," Felix replied, though unsure himself. "But I do believe that since the game has just finished calibrating… maybe… maybe the new information is still getting uploaded into Vanellope's code and that's why she still doesn't know who the bad guy is. Vanellope will probably know the moment she sees them. That's how Ralph and I recognized each other the first time we got plugged in." He remembered how the first time he met Ralph, he didn't know who the big angry man was but knew deep in his code that he was the 'bad-guy'.

"Oh… you're right Felix. I completely forgot about that… guess it was a waste of time coming to the castle directly." Ralph scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.

"I think it's cool to have a bad guy!" Vanellope chirped in excitement. "It'll make the races more interesting and fun! They could even be a new racer!" The prospect of a brand new challenge was too good to be true.

Seeing Vanellope jump with joy made Ralph feel all the worse for what he was about to say. "I hate to burst your bubblegum kid… but new bad-guys can be dangerous if not treated with caution. Most of them actually believe they are genuinely evil at first, so don't let your guard down, okay?"

"Oh relax you big oaf," Vanellope replied dismissively. "I've met some of your tough looking Bad-Anon friends and they're not as evil as they seem. Heck, they wouldn't even hurt a fly on purpose." She punctuated this statement with a leap into her kart.

"Yeah but this is different Vanellope," Ralph said, trying to keep himself from shouting. "You didn't know them back in the days when they first got plugged in. I've heard some scary stories about Bowser and Clyde's first days." Ralph's gaze turned to look at the floor as unwelcome memories returned to him. "Even mine were rough… my programmed temper was really an issue." He stared at his massive hands for a moment before he shook his head furiously, trying to brush the dark memories out of his mind. "Just trust me on this kid. Please?"

"All right grandpa, I'll keep my eyes wide open," she said, grabbing the steering wheel and starting her kart with a roar of its powerful engine.

-0-0-0-

Ralph, Felix and Calhoun looked at the crowd with a mixture of frustration and confusion.

"Jeepers… This is going to be a lot harder than I expected," said Felix, speaking on behalf of the three.

They were looking at a few of the new racers lining up with the rest of the well-known avatars at the Starting Line alongside the Jumbotron, expecting to identify the bad-guy among them since it was highly probable that they would be a new racer. But the task had proven more difficult than what they had expected since none of the new racers looked typically 'evil' at first sight.

Among the new racers, there was what looked like a banana-split themed racer girl, a marshmallow and graham-cracker boy, a cinnamon-roll themed girl, another strawberry cheesecake girl, a colorful jellybean themed boy with dreads, a geeky looking peppermint boy, a Hershey's chocolate girl, and finally, a jawbreaker themed boy. All of them looked cute and sweet, waving excitedly at Vanellope when she walked in front of them after parking her kart.

"You'll have to enlighten us, Wreck-It, since you're the expert on the matter," Calhoun said while sitting in her seat in the royal balcony where they and Vanellope usually sat.

Ralph narrowed his eyes at the racers, taking in every tiny detail of their wardrobes and kart appearances, looking for clues. But he couldn't find a thing.

"I don't understand… none of them look even remotely 'bad' to me. No dark colors, no dangerous symbols, no size differences… nothing! They're the same age as the cavities right there," he said with frustration, while gesturing at the starting line where the 'older' _Sugar_ _Rush_ racers were all lined up.

"What about that snob blonde girl who used to pick on the squirt? She's her rival, right?" Calhoun narrowed her gaze on Taffyta, who was currently chatting with the president.

"Her? She's been on good terms with the kid for a while now and she doesn't look any different to me," Ralph said, glancing at the duo as well.

"How about the green-haired one?" Felix asked.

"Too spaced-out to be a bad-guy," Ralph answered him.

"The blond boy?"

"Doesn't have the guts."

"The trickster orange one?"

"Harmless as a dove."

"The afro girl?"

"She's the kid's best friend in here."

"The colorful ones?"

"Look, none of them have bad guy material, okay?" Ralph said exasperatedly. "All of the older racers are here and none of them looks any different than before their upgrade. Believe me, I would know if someone was a bad guy."

"What about Turbo, Wreck-It?" Calhoun said with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't know it was him until he revealed himself thanks to the princess's glitch."

"First of all, Turbo was programmed to be a good guy so it's different. Never the less, I thought he was fishy even when he was pretending to be King Candy. And finally, how was I to know that someone who was supposedly dead could be still around and even be capable of reprogramming an entire game?" Ralph finished his diatribe with a roll of his eyes, Calhoun chuckling at him in response.

"Maybe the bad-guy isn't here, but they're hiding somewhere else?" Felix pondered, his eyes wandering all along the racetrack.

"Or maybe the old Surge Protector was wrong about all this and there is no bad-guy in _Sugar_ _Rush_," Calhoun said, crossing her arms and legs and feeling slightly annoyed.

Ralph and Felix exchanged looks but had nothing to rebuff her statement. The Surge did say that sometimes things could escape from their control, so what were the odds of him being wrong this time?

Vanellope appeared in front of them with a glitch, smiling brightly with excitement. She was currently sporting her default white and teal racing jumpsuit with matching helmet and goggles. Felix had convinced her to changing into some cleaner clothes before they departed from the castle. She liked to call it her 'presidential suit'.

"So, did you guys find the big new meanie?" she asked them mockingly, her eyebrows arched.

"…Vanellope…," Ralph stated in a scolding tone.

"I know, I know! Serious business," she said while doing a Ralph-like mocking face, earning giggles from Calhoun and Felix.

"Did your code tell you anything about the new racers?" Ralph asked her, ignoring the snickers from the married couple.

"Yep, I checked their information and none of them is the bad guy. I guess he didn't show up at the race after all," Vanellope said with a shrug while signaling Sour Bill to bring the mike. "We should check the new areas in the kingdom later. Maybe he's hiding somewhere out there." Jumping to her mike stand, she began giving her usual pre-race speech.

_"Good evening my fellow racers and sweet subjects," __echoed _Vanellope's voice through the entire game, the countless candy citizens cheering at the sound of her voice.

_"Welcome to **Sugar** **Rush** **Speedway** **2's** very first Random Roster Race! What an exciting day, isn't it?" _A cheer from the crowd answered her announcement.

_"As your president, I want to officially welcome our brand new avatars to our world and wish them the best of luck in this and later races of course," _she said saluting the new racers who were in the back positions of the startling formation.

"_The rules are the same folks: first nine racers to cross the line will be tomorrow's avatars on the roster. Power-ups are allowed but play nice, okay?" _She earned a collective bunch of giggles and winks coming from her fellow racers at that comment.

"_Right, right, so! Enough with the boring protocols and let the Random Roster Race commence!" _She finished with a smile, quickly glitching to her kart at the front line.

The sound of starting engines roared in the atmosphere along with loud ovations from the candy citizens who were all watching closely with delight. Vanellope looked back at the royal grandstand and waved eagerly to her worried friends who immediately started cheering after her.

"Go show them who the boss is squirrel!", "Don't be too tough on the new ones Vannie!", "Bring the cup home kid!" They all shouted at her, getting into the excitement of the moment and forgetting for an instant what brought them there in the first place.

All eyes turned to the starting lights as they flashed into life.

_Red…_

_Yellow…_

_Green…_

_GO!_

-0-0-0-

T**hank you for reading and please don't forget to leave a review!**

**The character you all have been waiting for will finally make her first appearance in the next chapter, so stay tuned!**


	3. Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz

A.N.: MAN! The first part of this chapter was HARD to write, I'm not an expert on narrating car races so I hope I did O.K. at least in my first try. Had to look for some references in other fanfics to see how others do it.

Anyway! The moment you all have been waiting for has finally arrived. Now is when the story REALLY begins.

Warning: This chapter is LONG! Even though I divided in two (chapter 2 was the first part) I kept adding more details to the narration…so sorry!

Have fun!

**Chapter 3: Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz**

Upon hearing the booming voice of the announcer say _'GO!'_, all of the karts sped away, and immediately began jockeying for the top positions.

Vanellope wasted no time in securing first place for herself, followed closely by Taffyta, Rancis and Candlehead as usual. Next were Jubileena, Snowanna, Crumbelina, Gloyd, Swizzle, Minty Zaki, Adorabeezle, and finally the eight new racers who were still getting familiar with the track.

Reaching the end of the Royal Track, the racers jumped the first ramp and soared high into the air, heading into Gumball Gorge. Landing with expertise, Vanellope proceeded to maneuver between the giant gumballs skillfully, while the others far behind her struggled to some degree, especially with going uphill and downhill at the same time. She knew that the racetrack had been modified, but so far she hadn't noticed anything unexpected.

But just as she was thinking this, her eyes widened in horror as she drove deeper into Gumball Valley. The giant dispensers began to throw spiky gumballs at the uneven track, much bigger in size than the usual massive gumballs. She let out a sharp yelp when one came too close to her and barely managed to dodge it in time.

Unfortunately, Candlehead didn't have the same luck and she disintegrated upon crashing with the nightmarish confection.

-0-0-0-

_'Oooooooh, birthday cake disaster! Candlehead is out!'_

The announcer's voice echoed while Candlehead's fans booed in response. Ralph, Felix and Calhoun watched in awe as the spaced-out racer and her kart got regenerated back at the Starting Line, a confused look on her face.

"Looks like the races got a little spiced up," Calhoun noted, returning her gaze back to the JumboTron to watch Taffyta fire a _sweet-seeker_ at Jubileena, who had surpassed her for an instant. The red racer soon reappeared at the Starting Line, looking furious.

One by one, more racers started to reappear at the starting line. The eight new candy racers followed after Jubileena, and then Swizzle and Adorabeezle arrived after having crashed into each other while trying to dodge a double spiky gumball.

"They haven't even arrived at the Ice Cream Mountains yet and half of the racers have already been eliminated," Felix said with worry.

-0-0-0-

Vanellope jammed her foot down on the gas pedal to speed up as she saw Birthday Cake Mountain at the end of Gumball Gorge, with Taffyta, Rancis and Snowanna right at her heels while Gloyd, Crumbelina and Minty were trailing far behind. They started to swerve around the spiral mountain as fast as they could, climbing higher and higher towards the cake top.

Passing through a line of power-up cubes, some of the racers were equipped with various candy weapons as Vanellope heard the booming voice of the announcer describe each one.

Snowanna, who had been in fourth place, fired a _toffee torpedo_ at Rancis's kart, causing him to swerve from one side to another, dodging the projectile effectively. Minty used a _speedy candy star_ to try to overtake the three karts ahead of her, but missed one of the left behind _candy wrappers_ thrown by Gloyd, losing control of her vehicle and spinning uncontrollably until she collided with Crumbelina's kart with such strength that the kinetic force rocketed them both off the road and into the abyss.

_"Minty Zaki and Crumbelina DiCaramello are out." _Vanellope heard after reaching the cake's top tunnel. She revved her engine with an echoing growl, speeding up to make the jump from the highest peak of Birthday Cake Mountain. She rocketed into the air with the four remaining racers and soared down towards the rolling ramp, until one by one, each of them nosedived and landed without crashing on the sugar-crystal pavement. They all zoomed rapidly down the straight stretch of road that led to the _Ice __Cream __Mountains_.

-0-0-0-

"The Pipsqueak has gotten better at this," Calhoun said, crossing her arms with a satisfied smirk. "She hasn't even glitched once to try and gain an advantage over the other cavities," Calhoun said with a smirk, crossing her arms in a satisfied manner.

"Well, she did promise to the racers that she would never do it during a Random Roster Race," Sour Bill commented in his dry voice. "The princess -I mean- madam president didn't want to be accused of 'cheating'. Of course, she still does it in _game _mode, and only if a gamer activates it with the control code sequence that is."

"Yeah, the kid is a moralist deep down," Ralph joked with his eyes glued on the JumboTron's screen.

"She might've picked that up from us," Felix said proudly, glancing at his wife who winked back at him, making him blush.

"Honestly I don't see what's wrong with using it once in a while," Ralph complained, his massive fists planted on his hips. " If it's a legal 'superpower' accepted even by the game's program, it shouldn't be considered 'cheating'. The cavities are just jealous of her and the kid just wants to be on good terms with them, that's all."

"Is that your bad-guy code speaking, Wreck-it," Calhoun said with a smirk.

"…Shut up," he said with his eyebrows knit in a straight line.

-0-0-0-

Still leading the pack, Vanellope drove carefully over the slippery ice-covered road that ran through what used to be the uneventful Ice Cream Mountains track. Some new colorful snowmen armed with candy canons were shooting popsicles at the racers from the top of the hills, cracking the road with each missed shoot. Vanellope wondered if these were the new bad-guy characters that Ralph had mentioned earlier. Her code had identified them as such, but instead of feeling the expected fear that bad-guys supposedly gave to protagonists, she only felt cockiness and mockery when glancing at them. She even blew a raspberry at one after dodging a popsicle aimed at her kart.

Looking back over her shoulder, she checked the few racers who were still behind her.

Taffyta was having a hard time, her hard-candy kart skiing over the slippery track, while preventing Rancis from overtaking her second place. She saw Gloyd race through another power-up cube and a _chocolate syrup canon_ appeared on his kart's body.

_'Sweet mother of monkey milk, don't do it Gloyd,' _Vanellope thought with alarm, jamming down the gas pedal to gain more distance and place herself as far away from his firing-range as she could.

Taffyta noticed Vanellope's sudden speed change. Glancing in her mirrors, she barely averted the reckless move from the orange racer.

"RANCIS! WATCH OUT FOR GLOYD!" she shouted at her blond friend just before they all heard the voice of the JumboTron announcing the attack.

_'HOT SYRUP BEAN!'_

"Stupid Gloyd," Snowanna cursed as she barely dodged the bean by moving out of the road and into the rocky field of the mountain for an instant.

"Ain't falling into that trap with ya buddy," she said as she watched the hot syrup fall on the ice road ahead of Gloyd, almost reaching Rancis and Taffyta's karts.

To Gloyd's horror, the hot liquid rapidly melted the crystal ice track and opened a pit in the middle of the road, leading into the deep abyss of the mountains. His eyes bugged wide and he immediately slammed his foot back on the brakes, but the slippery surface of the road didn't allow his kart to halt in time and he miserably fell into the pit with a shrieking scream.

Having avoided the trap, Snowanna returned to the track's road smiling triumphantly as she secured fourth place.

-0-0-0-

Gloyd regenerated back at the Starting Line, breathing rapidly after such a scary fall.

"Smart move, genius," shouted Swizzle "The Swizz" Malarkey with sarcasm as the rest of the racers started laughing at him. Gloyd pouted with a frown while maneuvering his kart to the side of the track, joining the rest of the disqualified racers with shame.

Ralph snickered at the sight. "Ralph," Felix chided in disapproval. "That's not funny. The kid just didn't think his plan through."

"Sorry, sorry," Ralph said, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

"You gotta admit, hun, that kid messed up his chances of winning quite horribly," Calhoun said, making no effort to hide her own mocking smile. "He could have waited until entering the Rainbow Road Cave to fire up that bean."

"Well, I still don't think its right to mock his loss," Felix insisted.

-0-0-0-

"What a moron," Vanellope said, rolling her eyes after watching Gloyd fall into his own trap. She heard Taffyta, Rancis and Snowanna laugh behind her and she suddenly realized that the Roster had pretty much already been decided, with Gloyd, Crumbelina, Minty, Swizzle and Adorabeezle keeping the five remaining qualifying positions after having been knocked out of the running with the rest of the _Sugar_ _Rush_ avatars.

But her racing code craved for more competition, just as they were about to enter the Rainbow Road Cave and the final section of the racetrack. It was pretty much just one straight boring road until the finish line, so what better to make things more entertaining than a not-so-friendly race for the glory. Narrowing her eyes, she looked back to face the remaining racers.

"Yo chumps! Whaddaya think about keeping on with the race 'til the end and see who _really _is the fastest racer of _Sugar_ _Rush_ _2_?" A defiant smirk crossed her lips as she awaited their response.

Taffyta and Rancis exchanged looks with Snowanna, and the three leered back at her, eyes shining with excitement.

"You're on Pres!" Snowana chirped back with a devious grin.

"I hope Madam President doesn't regret losing her 1st place position!" Rancis shouted gallantly.

"Oh she will, bring it V!" Taffyta finally agreed to the challenge, crunching her lollipop between her teeth.

"All right then, see ya at the finish line suckers," Vanellope saluted them as the sound of four engines roared with fury as they entered the mouth of Rainbow Cave.

-0-0-0-

Unknown to the racers, right above one of the snowy hills next to the cave's entrance, two snowmen watched as the four karts plunged into the darkness of Rainbow Cave. Exchanging blank nods, one of them picked a button off of his body, lifting it up to his mouth like a radio speaker.

"The princess has entered Rainbow Road with the other top three racers… **your grace**," he reported in a dark tone.

-0-0-0-

Ralph watched, slightly bored, as the top four racers fought furiously for first place, speeding down the inclined and borderless Rainbow Road. With the revelation of the colorful and clumsy Snowmen as the new bag-guy/obstacles in the Ice Cream Mountains track, he had practically given up his worries concerning Vanellope's safety. He realized that if they were indeed the aforementioned new villains that the Surge Protector had warned them about, the princess made president was more than capable of dealing with them on her own.

Unknown to him, Calhoun and Felix silently agreed with him.

"Seems to me that the pipsqueak will have no problem handling those snowy pussywillows," the _Hero's_ _Duty_ protagonist said dismissively.

"I agree with my sweetie pie," Felix said, relieved. "Those guys don't seem to be capable of causing huge havoc here. I highly doubt that they can even leave the Ice Cream Mountains since they would melt in the much warmer area of the game."

"Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to invite them to the Bad-Anon meetings," Ralph said, half smiling.

He saw Vanellope swerve her kart to avoid hitting Taffyta's while running through a lengthy stretch of the colorful floating road. Right behind them, Snowanna had quickly overtaken Rancis after he had gotten distracted from a _snow-cone cannon_ power-up that he had just missed in one of the curves. The crowd and the racers around them cheered the competitors with enthusiasm, excited to discover who of the four was going to be crowned the first champion of _Sugar_ _Rush_ _2's_ first Random Roster Race.

He watched Vanellope grin deviously at Taffyta before jamming down her gas pedal to surpass her, retaking first place a split-second before the track had become too narrow for the two karts to cross it side by side. Taffyta clenched her teeth as was left behind in second place once again. The road was so narrow that the racers had no choice but to maintain their positions until they exited the cave.

"Were you looking for the new bad-guy when you visited this morning, Wreck-It Ralph?" Sour Bill suddenly asked him.

"Yeah, Surge told us about it and we thought that the kid might be in danger since new bad-guys always go wacko at first. COME ON KID, SPEED UP MORE!" Ralph cupped his mammoth hands around his mouth and screamed at the JumboTron. Glancing down for a moment, he offered a slightly embarrassed smile before returning his attention to the giant screen. "I guess I was wrong about needing to be worried since those frosty felons didn't give her one bit of trouble, right Bill? GO KID GO!"

"You mean the snowmen on the Ice Cream Mountains track?" the small candy asked with a worrying frown. "I'm afraid those aren't the bad-guy you're looking for."

Ralph, Calhoun and Felix looked down at him with shock while the crowd grew louder in excitement as the racers neared the cavern's exit.

"Whaddaya mean cough-drop?!" Ralph exclaimed, his eyebrows forming a hard line. "You know who the new bad-guy is?!"

"You _sonnuvagun_," Calhoun snapped at the tiny candy. "Speak up already!"

Sour Bill felt chills run through his short round body from the menacing looks on her and Ralph's faces. "I-I… W-well… you see…," Sour Bill started to try and explain, but the booming voice of the announcer startled them.

_'New Racetrack unlocked!'_

The four of them turned their eyes back to the screen and watched in shock as a big black spot appeared on the Sugar Rush Speedway Map, just when Vanellope and the other three racers came blasting out of the cavern at full speed. The crowd suddenly went silent as everyone watched in confusion as a new dark and stormy set came into view on the JumboTron's screen.

The camera suddenly focused on the faces of Vanellope, Taffyta, Rancis and Snowanna as the four grew wide-eyed in alarm at what had just appeared.

"I think you're going to find out now," Sour Bill said in a trembling voice just when the camera moved again to focus on what the racers were supposedly watching in fear, revealing what looked like a giant and scary castle made of cola bottles standing tall and defiant in front of a very familiar volcanic formation.

_'Welcome to the Black Cola Castle track!'_

-0-0-0-

The announcer's voice echoed darkly as thunder and lightning illuminated the cloudy purple sky of the new track that Vanellope and the three remaining racers had just entered at full speed. Vanellope gulped as they kept running down the road that was currently leading them into the black castle's proximity. _'Is this what the Diet Cola Mountain level was supposed to look like?' _she wondered, feeling chills run down her spine.

She suddenly realized that the sound of roaring engines and pistons had stopped. Looking back at her friends, she noticed with shock that they had slowed down. Concentrating, she used her glitch to step back a few miles until she had rejoined the pack, startling the racers as another thunderclap roared just as she reappeared in front of Taffyta.

"Oh my Wonka, don't do that again Vanellope!" Taffyta complained, torn between rage and fright.

"Sorry, I just wanted to know why you guys had slowed down!" Vanellope shouted at them as more lightning flashed ahead of them.

"Are you kidding me pres?!" Snowanna screamed behind her. "Look at this place!" The rainbow-haired girl stretched her arms in indignation at their president's question.

"So? It's just a new part of the racetrack! I know it looks gloomy but the finish line is right after the Diet Cola Mountain, remember?" Despite her confidence, she wore a nervous smile. Wait, why was she nervous anyway? Was her code telling her something?

"Ye-yeah, but that means that we have to pass through the-the castle," Rancis said in a shaking tone while pointing with a trembling finger at the now much closer dark formation that was in their path.

"Oh come on! It's just one big dark castle! I bet it's probably empty inside." The princess-president could feel her confidence starting to ebb.

"Pres, I really, REALLY, have a bad vibe about this!" Snowanna insisted as the castle loomed larger and larger. "Don't try acting brave now! We have the Roster assembled anyway!"

"Snowanna's right V!" Rancis pleaded as the wind grew stronger. "Come on! You can check out the castle later if you want but please don't make us cross it!"

Vanellope looked at them and then directed her eyes to the platinum-haired racer.

"Are you scared too Taffyta?" she asked her with narrowing eyes.

Taffyta narrowed her eyes back at Vanellope but remained silent for an instant. She turned her gaze at the _Black Cola Castle_ and then back to the president after coming to a decision. "I say we could go around the castle instead of going thru it. We'll be off the road but we could jump back on it after passing _Diet Cola Mountain_." Silently, she thought to herself, _'No way I'm crossing that soda forsaken place, Vanellope!'_

"I second that idea!" Rancis finally managed to say in better spirits.

"Me too!" Snowanna backed up them.

Though she felt relieved, Vanellope rolled her eyes at their final decision.

"Fine! We'll go around the scary castle and take the path surrounding _Diet Cola Mountain_ instead! Geez! Bunch of cry babies!" She slammed down the gas pedal as she veered her kart onto the side of the road, just passing by the side of _Black Cola Castle_.

-0-0-0-

"Seems that Vanellope and the others have decided to not cross the castle," Felix said contentedly after the four had watched the racers go off the road and were now rounding the castle through the uneven area of the familiar and less frightening _Lollipop plains_.

Ralph and Calhoun breathed in relief when suddenly the announcer's voice boomed again.

_'Warning! Boss level alert! Boss level alert!'_

-0-0-0-

Vanellope looked around in shock after hearing the voice of the announcer resonate around them, looking for any sign of incoming danger when suddenly the background music changed into a rock & roll tune.

The four of them then heard the distant thunder of an unknown engine, revving strongly several times and accompanied by the sound of screeching tires. Looking back at the castle, Vanellope saw the big gates of the black architecture opening wide. A thick purple fog came from inside just as a pair of bright lights shown through it. Something in Vanellope's code changed and she unexpectedly found herself paralyzed in shock when a purple and black flash blasted from the gates of Black Cola Castle and was now running at a burning speed in their direction.

"BAD GUY INCOMING!" Rancis screamed with all the might of his lungs and slammed down the gas pedal in utter fear.

Snowanna and Taffyta mimicked him with equal screams after seeing the black and purple object rapidly closing in on them. Vanellope gasped in horror and proceeded to gain as much distance as she could, maneuvering in between the lollipop trees and the gumdrops.

-0-0-0-

"What the hell is that thing?! Someone tell that camera marshmallow to give it a close up!" Ralph demanded, feeling his heart racing at an unnatural speed. The candy fans were shouting and running in fear and the racers where gathered around the JumboTron with worried eyes. No one seemed to know what was happening.

"Ralph, calm down," Felix pleaded, moving his eyes back and forth between Ralph and the screen.

"Don't you dare to tell me to calm down Felix!" Ralph snapped at him, feeling his own temper kicking into overdrive. "Vanellope is in danger and on one knows what that thing is!"

Calhoun noticed Sour Bill go pale just as the cameraman had finally managed to focus the image into a visible treat.

"It-It's… It's," he babbled before abruptly passing out.

"Oh for the love of…," Calhoun muttered in irritation.

"RALPH LOOK!" Felix screamed at him, directing his attention back to the screen.

"Wh-what the…," Ralph said, wrinkling his eyes.

The image was blurry because of the incredible speed of the object, but Ralph managed to distinguish what looked like a racer sporting a black helmet driving an equally black kart.

"Does that look like bad-guy material to you Wreck-It?" Calhoun said between gritted teeth just as a pair of menacing black canons suddenly sprung up on each side of the mysterious black kart, despite the kart having not gone through any bonus-cube.

"I think we found it," Ralph finally said while clenching his fists.

-0-0-0-

Snowanna yelped in fear at sight of the fearsome weapons that were now aimed right at her. She was going at her kart's maximum speed and yet she couldn't lose the approaching racer. She heard an explosion and her world started to spin at an uncontrollable speed, just as she felt a strong and painful electrical shock go through her whole body. She heard screams in the distance and thunderous crashing sounds along with the screech of tires. Her kart spun alongside another object and both flew high into the air, t-boning each other before landing on top of another hard object in the pavement.

A few seconds passed until she finally opened her eyes again, finding herself back and unharmed at the Starting Line. She looked to her side and saw Rancis and Taffyta lined up with her, fright and confusion written all over their faces. The other _Sugar_ _Rush_ avatars ran to where they were.

"GUYS! Oh by Wonka, are you all right?" Candlehead asked them with tears in her emerald eyes.

"What just happened?!" Taffyta asked in confusion. She remembered tailing behind Vanellope at full speed, running away from the black racer before her vision had gone blank.

"That black racer shot some kind of electric pulse at Rancis and Snowanna, making their karts lose control!" Swizzle told her with a frown. "They crashed into you while they spun uncontrollably tangled with each other!"

"Where's the pres?!" Snowanna suddenly asked. They all looked to the JumboTron screen to see the black racer catching up with Vanellope, positioning right alongside her.

Ralph jumped from the Royal grandstands with Calhoun and Felix at his tail, his nine foot tall frame looming over the finish lines. He looked down the last stretch of racetrack, desperate for any sign of Vanellope approaching.

Calhoun loaded her rifle and stood firmly behind him.

"Guys…," Felix said while gripping his golden hammer. "We should take it easy… I mean, it's the official bad-guy of the game we're talking about… he's just doing his job, right?"

"We'll see about that," Ralph said, frowning darkly.

-0-0-0-

Vanellope looked at the black racer next to her cautiously. She still couldn't figure out who the racer was even though her code was tingling with alarm and fear towards him. She peered intensely at the black helmet and yelped in surprise when the racer turned his head towards her. For a few seconds that seemed to stretch into eternity, they stared at each other silently, engulfed by the roaring sound of their karts' pistons and the whistling tune of the wind caressing their chassis. Vanellope saw her reflection in the racer's helmet visor and felt her heart shrink with an unknown feeling; her code was reacting strangely towards the mysterious racer and she felt the unexpected urge to cry.

_'Why am I feeling like this?'__ she mentally questioned. 'Who are you?'_ The racer kept running alongside her without doing anything to harm her. She frowned at the black racer for a moment before grinning mischievously.

"All right, show me what you got buddy!" she shouted to the racer, pushing her gas pedal to the floor and steering her wheel, swerving back onto the racetrack. They sped up to their maximum speeds as Vanellope raced straight towards _Diet Cola Mountain_. She located the secret entrance and went through the two sugar free lollipops with a zapping sound.

The moment both karts entered, Mentos began to fall down, loosened by the booming sounds of the karts' engines, landing in the volatile spring below and splashing the grueling hot cola all over the place. Vanellope jumped on the spiral ramp, going up through the twisting track rapidly with perfect veers of her steering wheel, losing no speed on the turns. She noticed that the ramp was now completed and saw a new exit tunnel that went through the Mentos roof. She barely glanced back a bit to see if the black racer was still close at her heels and saw with surprise that the racer had disappeared.

"Uh? Where did he go?" She looked at the hot cola pit to see if the racer had fallen in by any chance. The sound of a claxon blaring from the opposite side caused her to squeal in surprise, the unexpected noise startling her. Vanellope's eyes bugged wide when she noticed the black racer running impossibly along the wall in a dangerous incline without falling down the volcano's walls.

"SWEET MOTHER OF MONKEY MILK!" she exclaimed in surprise, almost losing control of her turns.

Shaking her head in disbelief, she checked again and discovered with shock that her eyes had not been fooling her. The black racer kept running at her side along the wall as if gravity didn't affect him. Vanellope's eyes narrowed, her moment of stunned silence giving way to a fresh, overpowering surge of competitive determination. She shot a dark grin at the racer while tightening her grip on the steering wheel.

"No more games!" she shouted, slamming the gas pedal down as far as it would go, spinning her wheel until the roof came into view.

-0-0-0-

Ralph felt his heart skip a beat when he saw Vanellope's kart fly out of the top of Diet Cola Mountain, soaring high into the air followed by a nosedive at full speed. "Come on kid, GLITCH," and just as he had said the word, he saw her disappear in a pixilated blue spark and reappear again with her kart bouncing across the pavement. She quickly stabilized herself and started to pick up speed again.

The last leg of the race lay straight ahead of her with no racer or obstacle to stop her from crossing the line. The moment she came to the final stretch of track and the golden sparkling arch of the finish line came into view, a distant, boisterous cheer exploded from the grandstands of the candy citizens and among the _Sugar_ _Rush_ avatars. Ralph smiled proudly at her while Calhoun and Felix whistled and cheered in a mix of bliss and relief.

Just as Vanellope started to smile broadly, already tasting the sweet flavor of an oncoming victory, seconds away from crossing the line… she heard it again… the sharp blare of the warning claxon.

Her face went pale and her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when she saw the black racer, once again appearing along her right side in a bright flash of purple pixels. The racer quickly saluted her with two fingers before pulling ahead of her with an explosive roar of his kart's engine, leaving purple flames in his wake and a scandalized Vanellope far behind.

-0-0-0-

Ralph, Calhoun and Felix gasped in unison at the sight of the incoming dark vehicle rocketing toward the finish line. The three of them quickly moved out of the way just as a black and purple flash crossed the arch, followed by a thick golden cloud of sugar powder.

The sugary dust cleared as the announcer spoke up to identify the winner of the Roster's cup.

_'We have a new sweet champion,' _the voice echoed silently through the racetrack, but not a single cheer of victory came from the crowd.

The mysterious racer parked a few inches past the finish line. Ralph and the others ran over to Vanellope's side, seconds after she had crossed the line right after the black racer.

"Kid, are you ok?" asked Ralph, while glaring menacingly at the stranger. On the opposite side of the kart, Calhoun was already aiming her rifle, her finger lightly feathering the trigger.

"I'm fine, 'cept for my ego!" she said while looking over at Felix who was currently holding out his trusty golden hammer tightly, ready to fix any damage she might have suffered.

Vanellope jumped out of her kart and marched in the direction of the figure, much to Ralph and the Sergeant's surprise.

"Yo, nice racing out there!" she said, stopping at a safe distance and narrowing her eyes. "Nobody's ever beat me in a race for an entire year, so congrats I guess. Though we don't usually accept unknown racers to the Random Roster Race, so I-… wait a minute…" Vanellope cut herself off, scrunching her vision and looking closely at the racer's kart.

She could tell that the sporty racing kart was mostly made of hard black marzipan, with purple fondant thin stripes streaking along each side of its massive body. The wheels were fancy looking, eerily similar to Vanellope's default white kart, made of sparkling black marzipan with purple candy crystal disk brakes in their centers. It also had an aerodynamic high wing on the back and a deflector on the cockpit, both made of purple crystal candy. A set of matching purple mirrors finished the look.

It was much longer and sharper around the edges than the typical _Sugar_ _Rush_ racing karts. But what really caught Vanellope's attention was the crown with the twin lollipops symbol of the _Sugar_ _Rush_ Kingdom's emblem engraved on the doors and bonnet.

Vanellope frowned at that and returned her gaze to the mysterious racer. "Who are you?" she asked softly while arching an eyebrow.

The mysterious racer finally decided to step out of the kart, and everybody gasped at the sight of a slim and quite curvy figure. 'She' was barely as tall as Calhoun, dressed in a tight, black leather racing jumpsuit with purple stripes that ran all along her sides. A black and purple skirt covered her tight black spandex pants while her already trim waist was adorned with a thick black and white checkerboard belt. Purple and black striped high platform boots (very similar to Vanellope's leggings design), and spiral candy knee-patches covered each leg. A white scarf around her neck with the same crown symbol on the front and purple fingerless gloves completed the image.

Lifting up her helmet, she finally revealed her face to them.

"Oh my land!" Felix gasped audibly, earning a burning glare from his wife. Meanwhile, Ralph stared intensively and involuntarily at her.

The racer was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, and her facial features oddly resembled Vanellope's own, but with much more matured physiognomies. She had fairer skin, faint blushing cheeks and black painted lips; her big eyes were a vibrant electric green instead of hazel and sharper on the edges, sporting dark purple eye-shadow and thick black mascara. Her long hair, which was currently warped in a tall twirling ponytail with a golden crown on its base, was jet black with a few white stripes going all along its creamy and curly length, nearly reaching her waist.

She shook her recently liberated long hair a few times, making her tall ponytail bounce seductively in slow motion, much to Ralph's awe.

Directing her narrowed green eyes upon the young president, she smiled darkly at her.

"Well hello there… lil' sis," she said in a soft, playful tone while arching an eyebrow at her.

Ralph, Calhoun and Felix almost lost their balance at her words, gasping for air while their hearts stopped simultaneously in utter shock.

Vanellope looked at her with an eyebrow raised in a quizzical expression, when suddenly she felt an update in her code. Her eyes widened at the revelation, slightly glitching in surprise.

"I-I have a sister," she repeated softly with a blank expression. Vanellope turned her gaze towards her sister, smiling, and was about to say something when the final piece of information reached her code. Her face fell a little as her sister chuckled darkly at her.

"You… you're…," she struggled to say while frowning slightly.

**"I'm Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz… your new bad guy,"** her sister finally announced with an evil smirk.

-0-0-0-

**MOTHER OF GOD! THIS WAS SUCH A LOOOOOOOOONG CHAPTER!**

**I'm never writing a race EVER! Oh my god that was HARD to narrate!**

**I hope you have all enjoyed this chapter! Please don't forget to leave a review so I can keep feeling encouraged into writing the story!**

**Please check my gallery on DA account (GND-KicaCris) or on my Tumblr page (KicaCris) to see some of the story's concept art.**

**Oh and if you are interested to know, Chocolette's kart is based off the EV-X11. Google it up and be amazed! It's a quite badass looking racecar model in my opinion.**


	4. I'm bad and that's good!

**Chapter 4: I'm bad and that's good!**

_'IT'S THE WICKED QUEEN!', 'BAD GUY!','ATARI HAVE MERCY ON US!', 'RUN FOR YOUR LIVES BEFORE SHE CURSES US ALL!', 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!'._

Citizens and racers alike ran away as fast as they could while screaming at the top of their lungs in utter terror. The new character's information had also been uploaded into the rest of the citizens' memories and if they were already frightened before, now the fear had completely overtaken them. Within the blink of an eye, the starting line of the _Royal Racetrack _was empty, leaving a stunned Ralph, Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope alone with the queen.

"Wow… They sure can run fast," Ralph heard Felix mumble behind him. He then heard the queen snort.

"How brave of them, to leave their princess to the bad-guy's mercy," the older Von Schweetz said sarcastically, a mocking smile forming on her lips. "Though I guess the right term would be 'bad girl', but you know how that sounds… not that I really mind." The dark queen giggled at the implied innuendo.

A few silent seconds later, Vanellope finally woke up from her downloading trance.

"Sweet mother of monkey milk, I HAVE A SISTER NOW!" Vanellope screeched in complete surprise and happiness, making her sister cringe a little at her high-pitched voice. Scratching her buzzed ear with her pinky, the dark queen smiled at her sugar high sister.

"Geez, you are one loud little brat, aren't' ya?" she said while putting her helmet on the seat of her kart and resting a hand on her hip.

Calhoun frowned deeply at her comment and once again raised her rifle, taking aim directly at her head. The older Von Schweetz instantly raised both hands, looking confused.

"Whoa, whoa! Easy space girl! What's with the hostility?!" Despite keeping her hands in the air, a smirk slowly crept back onto her face.

"State your business!" Calhoun demanded, getting a snort from the new queen as a reply.

"You do know that I'll simply regenerate if you shoot me, right?" she shrugged it off mockingly, maintaining a blank expression.

"We'll see how many times the program can regenerate you before I crash your code permanently," Tamora hissed, a malevolent smirk on her own lips.

Chocolette regarded her quizzically, but never dropped her devilish smile. "Well… only if you manage to shoot me first that is," she said to her in a daring tone, earning a growl from Calhoun who was on the verge of pulling the trigger.

"SARGE WAIT!" Vanellope yelled at her, stepping between them both. "Calm down! Just because she's a bad-guy doesn't mean she really _is_ bad! Remember?" Vanellope's pleading eyes glanced at Ralph, who simply smiled apprehensively at her. Calhoun paused in thought, looking deeply into her imploring big puppy-dog eyes for what seemed like an eternity and finally gave up. She brushed her bangs out of her face in frustration, lowering her weapon with a sigh and cursing herself for becoming soft.

"Fine pipsqueak. Your game, your rules." She shouldered her rifle with a grunt.

"Thanks," Vanellope said and turned around to face her sister once again. "You aren't really bad, are you?" Her big eyes shone with hope.

Chocolette smirked at her after lowering her arms, kneeling down to her eye level. She gracefully poked Vanellope's pinky nose with a chuckle while wearing a thoughtful expression "Well let's see… I'm your green eyed older sister, dressed in black and purple, who also happens to be a beautiful queen who lives in a really scary looking castle and drives one big meanie of a black racing kart. What does that tell ya?" She looked straight into her eyes with a smug expression written on her features.

Vanellope glanced at every 'screaming evil' detail that her sister had just pointed out and pondered for a while, mentally comparing her with King Candy/Turbo and even the guys from Bad-Anon. She looked over her shoulder to Ralph who shrugged at her, not knowing how to respond to her statement. She had to admit, the queen did seem to have been programmed and designed based off every single evil cliché there was in the books, plus the addition of some seriously dangerous methods of racing. But then again, all the bad guys she had met had also more or less been programmed in the same fashion, and had still proven to have good hearts just like Ralph.

She remembered Ralph's life before their fateful meeting and how his own people used to treat him. Was her sister destined to go through the same social stigma as Ralph had? Were the Sugar Rushians going to isolate her sister because they were programmed to fear her?

Not if she had anything to say about it. She had to give her sister a chance and convince everyone else to do the same.

Making up her mind, she returned her gaze to her sister with a mischievous smile. "That now I have one cool big sister?" she finally said in an excited tone.

The queen looked taken aback for a moment, as if Vanellope had suddenly grown a third head.

"You're not scared of me?" she asked, shocked. She knew she was supposedly programmed to be feared by everybody in _Sugar_ _Rush_, so she found it quite intriguing that Vanellope, who was the game's main character and princess, seemed more thrilled to finally meet her than frightened. Was something wrong with her little sister's program?

"Nope, I actually think you're really awesome," The younger Von Schweetz told her with a toothy grin.

Chocolette blinked, silent for a moment before laughing maniacally at her little sister's words. "Oh my, you really are something," she said while wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye. "Well you're damn right about ME being awesome brat! And don't EVER forget that!" She ruffled her sister's dirty bangs, finding her protagonist quite intriguing and adorably naive.

Vanellope instantly started to jump all around her in excitement, blurting fast and incoherent sentences.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me in a year! I have a bad guy and a big sister! This is so cool! You're so cool! Are you gonna live in the castle with me!? This is gonna be so fun! We'll have sleepovers every day, and we'll fix each other's hair and watch scary movies! Oh by Atari! Did you guys just see the way she drives?! It was all woooosh and vrooooooom, and 'I'm so badass, I don't follow the laws of physics, losers'! And oh my gosh, you gotta teach me how to drive like that! Please! Please! Please! Pretty please! Oh! And-!"

Rolling her eyes while chuckling, Chocolette quickly grabbed her jumping sister by her hoodie in a mid air jump, turning around over to face her. "Easy there sugar high grasshopper," she said, putting her down again.

"First of all," she said rising her index finger. "I don't know if you noticed, but I do happen to have my own castle so I'm not sure about the sleepover idea yet; second, yes I don't exactly follow any rules because it's not in my code to do so anyway, and no I can't and I won't teach you to drive like me."

Vanellope frowned at the last part.

"Awwwwww why not?!" she pouted, her most effective trick for manipulation that usually worked on anyone, even Tamora.

Chocolette flashed her an evil smile. "You're adorable all right, but that's not gonna work on me. Besides, what would my loyal subjects think of me if I started helping the pretty princess of my game?" The queen rolled her eyes at the obviousness of her statement, her voice holding the kind of taunting tone that only an older sister could pull off.

Vanellope huffed in annoyance, crossing her arms stubbornly and also rolling her eyes in the same fashion as her sister.

"Well I don't care what the rest of the racers think, you and I can hang out as much as we want!" she said in a manner not unlike a Felix good-guy style speech.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about your loyal subjects lil' sis," the queen said, looking at her with an arched eyebrow.

Vanellope tilted her head, furrowing her brow in a confused frown when suddenly she heard the distant sound of thunderous engines getting closer. Ralph, Felix and Calhoun heard it too and turned around in the opposite direction of the Royal Racetrack to see several approaching figures on odd-looking vehicles.

They heard them whistle and cheer loudly, sweetly cursing to the skies while jumping over the scattered and fallen grand stands, hitting everything in their path. The figures stopped a few miles away from them, while a thick cloud of sugary dust covered them for an instant.

"Dear sis… meet my _Sour Racers,_" the queen said evilly when the sweet smelling smoke cleared, revealing a group of six not-so-friendly adult looking racers leering back at them.

"These are the Twizzler Twin Sisters: Zoet and Zuur." Chocolette signaled with her hand and a pair of twin girls who were riding neon pink and yellow motorbikes came forward. One of the sisters had a lightning bolt painted over one eye while the other sister had a broken heart painted on the opposite eye. They were sporting platinum Mohawk hairdos, and were dressed in black shorts and black tank tops with short leather jackets which matched their high-heeled boots and bikes.

"The big fella is Rocko "El Habanero" Gobstopper," the queen said, pointing to a muscular shirtless black bearded man who was on a big red skull-candy-shaped monster truck. He was dressed only in thorn black pants with red military boots, black sunglasses and a red candy wrapper bandana tied around his head. His muscular tanned torso was completely tattooed with different Mexican candy skulls painted all over it.

"Franknerd Puckertensky, our mad genius," she said, referring to a more lanky racer with spiral goggles, whose face and body were constantly twitching and shaking. He was giggling nonstop. He was on a silly looking neon blue boogie kart, made of lifesavers and rocky candy, wearing a blue top hat, and a striped blue and black thorn vest that matched his equally striped pants. He really seemed to be having a mental breakdown.

"Lady Razz Trollancher," the queen said, introducing a tanned girl with orange braided hair, sitting with her arms crossed on a long vehicle while blowing and chewing bubblegum. Her kart only had three jelly wheels and was half green, half orange, and covered in sugar sparkles. She was wearing a black and green racing jacket and matching flared leg pants on tall platform heels.

"And last but not least, Patcher 'Warhead' Roger," she finished with the last racer, whose eyes were hidden under the thick and puffy body of a huge, green afro. He was on a green and yellow rocket shaped kind of kart, smiling while balancing a cherry bomb on one hand. He was wearing black shoulder pads with spikes, fingerless green gloves, and black and green dotted pants with no shoes. His kart didn't have any wheels, floating in the air instead.

"ALL HAIL QUEEN CHOCOLETTE THE DARK!" the six of them chanted in unison, fist pumping into the air.

Vanellope gasped at them, eyes going wide in excitement.

"WOW! More racers! This is so cool!" She shouted earning confused stares from the Sour Racers.

"They're mini-bosses and they're supposed to appear randomly at each racetrack to prevent the player from wining," Chocolette explained to her while Vanellope glitched and teleported quickly, checking out all of them out and their karts while babbling again.

"Look at this guy's kart! It's so big! Oh my Atari I have never seen candy bikes before! Why are you shaking? Why are you laughing? Can I have some gum? How does your kart run without wheels?! Why does your kart only have 3 wheels?! Oh look at this!" Vanellope went on and on as the other three of the Core Four watched, flabbergasted as the kid got recklessly close to the other bad-guys.

Chocolette suddenly whistled loudly, regaining Vanellope's attention. The young president looked back at her sister, peeking out from Warhead's massive afro, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Oops, sorry," she apologized while jumping back to the ground, grinning innocently. Chocolette lifted an eyebrow at her.

"Right, well, I didn't make them appear in this race because I honestly thought that it was going to be too much for you and your sweet racers to handle," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand, earning hurt looks from her Sour Racers.

Vanellope pouted with a frown, feeling her own ego hurt.

"Excuse me, but do you really think these clowns of yours could stop ME from winning," she said, earning a couple of 'heys' coming from behind her.

Chocolette laughed heartily at her sister's prideful demeanor. "If I remember correctly, you didn't win today dearie," she said.

"Well ga-doi! You took me by surprise! Really unfair! I wasn't mentally prepared for a challenge like that, you cheater!" She said and blew a raspberry at the queen, who chuckled in response.

Ralph, who had been watching everything quietly, let one barely audible snort escape, which the queen heard. She turned to look at the source of the laugh, noticing him fully for the first time with wide eyes. Ralph's eyes bugged too when their eyes met, feeling a new warm sensation course through his whole body. Their eyes remained locked for a whole minute until she smiled deviously at him with a mischievous new spark in her eyes.

Turning on her heels, the queen marched her way towards the wrecker, swinging her hips as if she were a model strutting down a runway, ignoring the stunned faces of Calhoun and Felix as she crossed in front of them. Ralph's mind went blank as she stopped a few inches away from him, confused by her sudden approach.

"Well hello there big guy," she said in a seductive tone, both of her hands planted on her hips, smiling as she shamelessly checked him up and down with her green eyes. "Are those muscles of yours for good or for evil?"

Ralph fell backwards, completely taken aback at her forwardness and feeling his pixels turn red. '_Did-did she…no…no way! She did NOT just openly flirt with me!' _His brain refused to believe it. "Wha-what," he barely blurted out, earning a playful giggle from the dark queen.

Felix gasped and smiled at his fallen brother, noticing the infamous "honey glows" on his cheeks for what was probably the first time in his friend's existence.

Vanellope glitched onto Ralph's shoulder, grinning knowingly from ear to ear. "This stinkbrain here is Ralph! Wreck-It Ralph actually, from another game called _Fix-It Felix Jr_.! He saved me a year ago from a psycho called Turbo who had taken over our game for 12 years and is now my best friend. He is also a bad guy!" She finished her introduction with both arms gesturing openly to Ralph.

"You're a bad guy too?" Chocolette gasped in delight, her narrowed eyes never leaving his roughly handsome features.

Straightening up at once, Ralph dusted himself off and cleared his throat. "Thanks for the introduction, president booger-face," he said, giving Vanellope a reproachful frown. She only grinned wider at him.

"I'm Ralph… and yes I'm a bad guy too… nice to meet ya… I guess," he said doubtfully, scratching the back of his head with one big hand.

"I wouldn't just say _nice_, but my sister is here," she teased, batting her eyelashes while her green eyes shown seductively, making him even more flustered than before.

_'Oh sweet Konami, is she one of those bad girls who are programmed to act all flirty?! It doesn't help that she is REALLY beautiful. Stay cool Ralph! Don't let her affect you, you don't know her and that's why you can't trust her just yet! She could be dangerous! Really dangerous,' _he gulped in thought while backing slightly away from Chocolette.

Felix quickly took his cue to introduce himself, taking his cap off of his head. "And I'm Fix-It Felix Jr., ma'am, from the game _Fix-Felix Jr. _too! And the lovely lady over there who you just 'pleasantly' met is my dynamite gal and wife Sergeant Tamora Calhoun Fix-It, lead character from the game _Hero's Duty_. We are all Vanellope's friends here. It's a great honor to officially welcome you to Litwak's Arcade." The short handyman cordially bowed with a bright white smile.

"So you three aren't from our game: figures much," Chocolette said, glancing at Calhoun from the corner of her eye, who was watching her with a judging glare. Just then, the dark queen realized something the short good guy had just mentioned. She looked at him with a confused expression and turned her eyes to Ralph again.

"This short one is the good-guy who is supposed to beat you up in the game?" she said, pointing at Felix with her thumb, making Felix's brows form a straight line. "Either he has one helluva strong super power under those gloves or you're not as strong as you look, big guy!" She glanced at both with doubt, hearing a chuckle escape from Calhoun.

Feeling his own temper starting to rise, the no longer 8-Bit handyman crossed his arms over his chest and allowed his hero's pride to take over. "Well excuse me ma'am'! But in our game…"

"…Felix…," Ralph tried to interrupt his incoming outraged good-guy speech.

"…Ralph wrecks a whole city with his bare hands, terrorizing the poor citizens of Niceland, while…"

"…Felix…," Ralph tried again, to no avail.

"…I'm supposed to fix his mess quickly with the help of my trusty golden hammer, given to me by my pops! And…"

"FELIX," Ralph shouted, stopping his blabbering in mid speech. "She is just messing with ya!"

Felix quickly looked over to Ralph, who was smiling in amusement, and then to Chocolette who seemed to be holding back her own laughter. However, Vanellope and Calhoun did not even try to hold it, both laughing openly at his outburst.

"Oh," he finally said, feeling his own embarrassed 'honey glows', only to then snort in indignation while putting his cap back on stubbornly. "Never been fond of the Bad Guys sense of humor." An angry pout formed on his lips and he stared at the ground.

Snickering, Chocolette glanced over her shoulder to look at the Sergeant. "And you're his wife? You're a softie deep down then, aren't ya?" the queen said smugly, earning a piercing glare from Calhoun.

"Watch your tongue queenie… you might lose it one day," Calhoun threaten her in through clenched teeth.

Suddenly, they all heard the faint sound of police sirens in the distance, getting closer. The Sour Racers gasped in unison with worried eyes.

"BOSS! The cops are comin'," Razz shouted to the queen, bursting her bubblegum.

Chocolette rolled her eyes, looking slightly annoyed for the first time. "Just when I was starting to have some fun," she said sighing. "Oh well, I think it's time for me to make my exit".

Chocolette walked away from them and towards her kart, while her racers started their vehicles' engines.

Vanellope jumped off of Ralph's shoulder, looking sad.

"Wait," she yelled, rooted to the spot where she'd landed. "Where are you going?! Why do you have to leave so suddenly?!" Chocolette just kept walking without turning around as her racers started to leave one by one.

"It has to do with me being not allowed to participate in the _Random Roster Races_, I guess, so I bet the guards from your castle aren't very happy with my unexpected visit," she said, jumping in her seat and staring her kart with a thunderous roar of its pistons.

"Don't worry sis, we'll see each other around plenty," she said, strapping on a pair of purple goggles. She then glanced back at Ralph with a teasing devilish smile. "And I really hope to see you around plenty too… big guy!" She finished with a wink as the tires of her kart squealed loudly. She laughed maniacally and sped away, followed by her racers as she disappeared on the horizon as a black and purple blurred flash, leaving a gaping red faced wrecking guy behind with his brain frozen.

-0-0-0-

**I have to admit, it took me more time to come up with the names for the Sour Racers than with the rest of the chapter XDU **

**I'll upload some of the concept art of this chapter soon on my Tublr and DA, so please check them out!**

**Again, my apologies if you manage to find any grammatical mistake! _ I'm doing my best into double-checking everything before uploading but I'm not perfect!**

**Don't forget to leave a review! **

**Stay Sweet**


	5. Apples and Wicked Queens

**Heya folks! So very sorry for the long wait, but real life got in the way as usual.**

**I want to do a couple of announcements! As you might have noticed, I accepted the offer of dear ThePhantomSoldier as Beta Reader and he had already corrected the first 4 chapters of the story. You can go back now and check them out! He also worked on this chapter and will be from now on the story's main editor. I'm very thankful for his support, help and hard work on polishing the narrative of the story, really REALLY thankful. Please check his stories too! He is a great writer! **

**This chapter will be longer than previous ones as some sort of apology for the long delay. **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 5: Apples and Wicked Queens**

As Wynchel and Duncan arrived, Ralph let out a sigh he didn't realize he had been holding.

"Madam President," the round donut officer said with his pastry eyebrows furrowed in worry. "Are you all right ma'am?! We were informed by the Sugar Racers that your sister had deliberately sabotaged the Random Roster Race and even compromised some of the racers!" Duncan pensively looked around, searching for any sign of imminent danger. He signaled the Oreo knights to form a protective perimeter around them. "We came as fast as we could with the whole army!"

Vanellope rolled her eyes and snorted at the exaggerated show of her security forces. From the lines of firm soldiers, a slim, mustachioed old man saluted her solemnly, a gesture that was immediately mimicked by the rest of the short cookie guards. He was dressed in a black and white military uniform, with a peppermint sword on his belt and the royal symbol of _Sugar_ _Rush_ on his tall black and white cake hat.

"Good evening Princess - I mean - Madam President Von Schweetz," the officer spoke in a thick aristocratic accent. "It's a great honor to meet you. I'm General Nabisco, your new chief of security."

His information was immediately uploaded into her memory data as Vanellope looked at the rigid old man, already bored from his stuffy accent.

"I must offer my deepest apologies for the Wicked Queen's interference. My soldiers and I are usually in charge of guarding the perimeters surrounding Black Cola Castle to prevent the queen and her racers from taking part in the Random Roster Races for obvious reasons, but I'm afraid that we were delayed momentarily due to the program still calibrating." General Nabisco took a moment to adjust the monocle supported by his big nose. "I give you my word that this situation will not occur again." The aged officer clicked his boot heels together and bowed at the waist to Vanellope.

"Right…," she said, eyeing the general indifferently. "Thank you, ah, general, but I don't think it's going to be necessary for such… ah… show of force… my sister just left and she didn't cause any unfixable problem."

She wondered why everybody was going crazy over the security since her sister had done nothing more than just unexpectedly race during the last part of the track. Sure, Chocolette did race in her own unique way, slightly reckless and dangerous even, but she hadn't hurt anyone… at least not too badly. She only attacked Snowanna, Rancis and Taffyta and the program regenerated the three immediately with no further issues. The Sour Racers didn't have a chance to do a thing as her sister had ordered them not to do so.

Vanellope was almost 100% sure that her sister wasn't bad. She could feel it in her code and had the strong resolution to prove it.

"Send the troops home, general, the party's over," she said waving her hand dismissively to the old officer and walking over to join Ralph and the others. The general saluted her in response and proceeded to head back to the castle, the army marching in perfect step behind him, much to Wynchel and Duncan's dismay.

-0-0-0-

Calhoun slapped Sour Bill hard across his round body. He woke up startled at the sudden pain, blinking several times while looking at the _Hero's Duty_ NPC with hurt eyes.

"That was certainly uncalled for, Mrs. Fix-It," the sour candy complained drily while rubbing the side of his 'face'.

"Well I certainly found it amusing," Calhoun sniggered.

Bill noticed his surroundings and saw that the Oreo army was leaving. "Is Vanellope safe?" he asked.

Calhoun changed her smirk into a more serious expression. "She's safe and sound, cough-drop. The queen just gave us all a harmless scare, that's all."

Bill sighed and stood up on his tiny floating feet. "Thank Atari. The queen is so… how can I put this… 'Unreadable'… none knows what's going on in her head. She has such a finicky temperament." The sour majordomo sounded tired.

Ralph, Vanellope and Felix approached the two with quizzical eyes.

"You seem to know her well Bill, so spill the beans!" Ralph demanded seriously. He still wasn't completely sure if the queen was trustworthy, even though she hadn't threatened Vanellope… yet.

"Well, back story-wise, I do know the queen. I'm a sour candy citizen myself after all." He was dusting himself off from Calhoun's rough treatment.

"What do you mean Mr. Bill, sir?" Felix asked, sounding confused.

"I suppose I should start with telling you a little about her back story...," Bill began, but he suddenly glitched with wide eyes, startling Vanellope and the others for a second.

"What the-?" Ralph exclaimed.

"Or maybe not,' Bill said calmly, furrowing his brow. "It's seems that Queen Von Schweetz's back story is locked."

"WHAT?!" the four shouted in unison.

Vanellope thought deeply and also realized that she didn't know a thing about her sister's back story. "I got nothin' too! Why?! This is weird!" The saccharin sovereign frowned in frustration.

"It's seems that the only information we have about her majesty, apart from being the president's sister, is in the game's introduction," Bill said, thoughtfully stroking his chin with a tiny hand. He then started to narrate the introduction to them. "Accordingtothenewgameintro…"

_"Princess Vanellope was celebrating her 13 birthday when the queen suddenly crashed the party with her racers, complaining about not having been invited to the celebration. Princess Vanellope was surprised, but her heart was full of joy since she hadn't seen her older sister for so many years and was happy to finally have her back in the kingdom. _

_But her joy didn't last long as the queen had been cursed and turned wicked. She wanted nothing more than to take revenge on Vanellope for having ruled the Kingdom in her place and claimed her right to be crowned as the true ruler. The racers and citizens refused to recognize her as their queen, for they saw how black and icy her heart was, and so they banished her from the kingdom, along with all of the sour candy citizens who were loyal to her. _

_But before leaving, the queen swore to her sister that she would never win another race again as long as she lived and that one way or another, the throne of Sugar Rush would one day be hers. She lives at Black Cola Castle on the outskirts of Diet Cola Mountain, where she rules with an iron fist over the vile Sour Racers, who are loyal to her and would do anything to carry out their queen's wishes."_

Bill shook his head with a deep sigh as he finished the narration.

"Sounds like a normal bad-guy story if you ask me," Ralph said, scratching his head.

"That's the game's back story, not my sister's back story, Stinkbrain," Vanellope reminded him with a mocking smile.

"So there's more to it?" Felix asked with concern.

"But why's that part locked?" Calhoun said with narrowed eyes. "I think it's suspicious."

"I don't know," Bill droned. "It could either be because it's part of the game's story mode and therefore only a gamer will be able to unlock it… or the Queen has locked it on her own since that information is in the code room of Black Cola Castle, meaning only she has access to it."

"Wait, there's another code room in the game?!" Ralph shouted, astonished.

"It's a much smaller one," Bill elaborated. "It only contains the information of the main bad-guy and all data related to her. It's located in her castle because that way it's safe from any manipulation from the good-guy and other NPCs that might have unpleasant intentions towards her. Very few games have this feature."

Vanellope felt slightly offended, frowning sadly, but deep down she understood. Ralph noticed this and kneeled down to her level, lifting her chin with his right index finger.

"Hey kid, no need for the long face," Ralph told her softly, looking into her shining eyes. "Your sister is just watching her back, okay? That's one of the consequences of our job. I'm pretty sure that once she gets to know you better, she'll open up to you. Felix and I went through the same thing. Though I still have my doubts about her, I think we should give her a chance… So far she hasn't done anything _too_ bad in my opinion." He glanced at Bill, Felix and Calhoun for more support.

"It's too early to say, but I'll keep a close eye on her," the sergeant said stubbornly, crossing her arms.

"Well, technically everybody is innocent until proven otherwise, so I'll agree with you on this brother," Felix said with a reassuring smile.

Vanellope smiled brightly, her spirits rising up again with new hopes for her and her sister to form a sisterly bond. She couldn't wait to start going on game jumping adventures with her and the others.

"I'll pay her a visit before the arcade opens!" she eagerly started but was stopped by a raised hand from Sour Bill.

"No you won't ma'am," Bill said in his monotone voice. "Sugar citizens cannot enter Black Cola Castle outside of gaming hours."

"Argh, why not?!" Vanellope said with a stomp of her tiny boot, crossing her arms in an adorable pout. "This is ridiculous! Somebody has to shake some sense into her!"

"Uhm, well what about you good sir?" Felix asked Sour Bill politely, holding his cap in his hands. "You did say you're a Sour Citizen yourself, right?"

"Yes I could, but her majesty won't trust me since I'm her younger sister's loyal majordomo and advisor," he said rolling his eyes, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Anyway, it's getting late so why don't we call it a night and head home?" Calhoun said grabbing Felix by his suspenders and throwing him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "We'll deal with the queen tomorrow."

Just then, Vanellope's face lit up with a smile as an idea popped into her head.

"The Bad Anon!" she cheered excitedly, earning surprised looks from everyone. "Ralph! You HAVE to take my sister to tomorrow's Bad Anon meeting!" She glitched, appearing on Ralph's head and pulling his hair.

"I HAVE TO WHAT?!" Ralph cried in confusion. "No kid! Bad idea, trust me! I'm not the right guy for the job… I'll tell Clyde to send her an invi-"

"NO RALPH!" she interrupted him, still grinning from ear to ear. "It has to be you! She likes you! She'll trust you right away!"

Ralph turned all kinds of red and almost lost his balance. "What?! What do you mean?! Come on Vanellope don't be silly!" He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, turning his face away so none could see his blush.

"My sister has it bad for you, major body-odor," Vanellope insisted with a strong pull of his hair, making him turn his head again, making Ralph frown in annoyance. "I can feel it in my code!"

Calhoun and Felix exchanged knowing nods with each other. "I must agree with Vanellope here, brother," Felix told him with a cautious smile. "It did seem like Chocolette was quite interested in you."

Calhoun snickered, one hand on her hip while Felix was still wrapped in the other. "_Interested_? The girl couldn't take her eyes off you, Wreck-It!"

Ralph frowned at them incredulously as Vanellope kept pulling his hair. "She's programmed to be flirty; it's a pretty common trait among 'bad-girls'. She's not doing it because she likes me. C'mon you guys, it's me we are talking about!"

Vanellope leaned upside down to look directly in his eyes "I think you are in denial, Ralph mah man," she said with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"And I think you guys know nothing about bad-guys," he said, taking Vanellope by her hoodie and putting her down on the ground again.

She crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at him with rosy cheeks.

"If may I interject, sir, I actually think that it's a good idea if you'd be the one to approach the queen first," Sour Bill admitted, earning surprised looks from everyone. "Bad Guys will surely be welcome at Black Cola Castle, but I also think that it'll be better if you're the one to handle the invitation yourself since she's already met you and she seems… _curious_ about you sir. I even expect she'll receive you… personally."

Ralph sighed and looked away frustrated.

"Ralph please… you have to do this," she said with pleading eyes, gripping one of his massive hands with her one of her own tiny ones. "You're the only one who can give her a proper welcome! I don't want her to go through the same things you went through for 30 years. I don't want her to believe whatever back story she has and be isolated by everyone in my game just because of her role. She's my family, just like you, Sarge and Hammer-time here are!"

Ralph looked down at her with concern.

"Please Ralph… do this for me, pretty please," she finished with a small pleading smile and big shining puppy-dog eyes.

He looked back at the Fix-Its for support, and they also smiled softly at him with a shrug. He felt cornered. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he exhaled deeply and finally looked back at his partner in crime with an unsure smile.

"All right, I promise I'll pay her a visit tomorrow before going to the meeting," he said, half smiling.

"YES! YES! YES! Thank you! Thank you! I knew I could count on you, Stinkbrain!" Vanellope was glitching all over the place in sheer joy.

"Well of course you can always count on me President Fartfeathers," he said, raising his big fist to her. "Top shelf?"

"Top shelf," she answered, fist pounding him with a big grin.

-0-0-0-

The next day, the arcade was packed full of kids and teenagers as the rumors of the addition of newer and updated games spread through town. _Sugar Rush Speed Way 2_ garnered a long waiting line just as Mr. Litwak had expected; _Hero's Duty: World's Expansion_ and _Fix-it Felix Jr. 2: Wreck-it Ralph's Return_ had also received three times more quarters than ever, and the new _Nintendo Wii Console Modulator_ zone was crammed with loud teenagers who had already assembled an improvised fighting tournament. Things were looking better than ever for his business.

The moppet girl snorted with frustration as the _'Game Over'_ screen blinked at her repeatedly after having been defeated by Ralph at the 4th Boss Level. She hadn't come the previous day and was surprised to find her favorite game updated with new graphics and more difficult levels. She greatly enjoyed the new game style, though she found it exasperating how the '_Wrecking Guy'_ had gotten more difficult to defeat than ever.

_"_You can smirk at me all you want, but I swear that I'll beat you up soon Wrecking-Guy,_"_ she said while stepping aside to allow another kid waiting in line to play. She then noticed a familiar pair of teens also waiting to play the new _Fix_-_it_ _Felix_ _Jr_. She remembered them always playing _Sugar_ _Rush_ before and found herself intrigued by their sudden appearance in the line.

"You guys are going to play _Fix-It Felix 2_? I though you only liked to play _Sugar Rush,_" she said with a mocking smile.

The teens snorted at her with indignation.

"Have you seen the waiting line, smarty pants?" the chubby teen barked with his eyes fixed on _Fix-It Felix 2's _console screen. "We left our quarters there to try it out again later. The game got insane with that new Bad-Girl!"

She looked back at them with curiosity sparkling in her eyes. "Really? There's a new villain in _Sugar Rush 2_?"

"Yeah, some sort of wicked queen and she is so badass and hot," The tall, lanky one said dreamily. "But man! She's so freaking brutal too! Nobody has been able to pass the second track yet! And those Sour Racers are such a pain in the ass!" His trashy talk earned him a frown of disapproval from the Moppet Girl.

She glanced back at _Sugar Rush Speed Way 2's_ twin consoles and saw a pair of kids stand up off their seats with angry frowns, but still returning to the end of the line to try the game one more time. She noticed a dark haired woman laughing maniacally on the game's 'Game Over' screen.

"Uhmm… now I want to try that," she said eagerly and rushed to join the waiting line with her last pair of quarters.

-0-0-0-

_"ALL CLEAR, THE ARCADE IS CLOSED," _Yuni shouted her cue as usual.

Ralph dropped his arms and sighed deeply as he heard Felix also shout _"Quitting Time!"_ to the town. He stretched his sore muscles, feeling the reset take effect as his health bar was restored once again and the streets around him were instantly rebuilt in the blink of an eye.

He started to walk towards his house when Felix hopped off of a roof and landed graciously in front of him with a bright smile.

"Ready for the big mission, brother?" He chirped, picking the tip of his cap. "I am so excited for you!"

Ralph rolled his eyes. "Calhoun is rubbing off on ya pal; I don't see what the big deal is," he said as he and Felix kept walking together. "I'll just go there, knock on the door, drop the invitation and leave. She probably won't be attending tonight." He finished just as they reached the front door of his home.

"I don't know brother," he said, stopping behind him. "I have a good feeling about this! Do you want help with… you know, getting fixed up and presentable?"

Ralph scowled at his sheepish offer. "NO! I mean, no thank you. I'll just take a quick shower and I'll be on my way. I'll see you at _Tapper's_ after the meeting!" He entered his home and shut the door quickly before Felix could offer any more _assistance_.

"All right Ralph, good luck," he heard Felix say faintly behind the door.

-0-0-0-

Ralph walked slowly through the deserted Lollipop Plains that surrounded Black Cola Castle. He noticed that the sky was darkened by big, puffy purple cotton candy clouds that circled in a perfect spiral formation around the tall towers of the dark and scary castle. Though there was a significant lack of thunder, lightning and strong winds this evening, the place looked just as nerve-wracking as it did yesterday.

He stopped in front of the big, dark chocolate gates and gasped at its majestic decorations. He noticed two winged dragons carved on each of the gates surfaces, one black while the other was white, spitting what looked like fire at each other. The wall that protected the castle reached high into the sky, looking as though it was touching some of the puffy clouds while much taller bottle towers rose even higher into the sky, extending far beyond the cloud layer. He noticed a sign carved in the chocolate wall that proudly and elegantly read 'Black Cola Castle', and just under it, in tiny letters there was a message that Ralph could barely manage to read as saying 'Sugar Citizens and Good-Guys will be licorice whipped on sight. Enter at your own risk'.

Ralph rolled his eyes and proceeded to knock firmly at the gates. He glanced at both sides with a frown, expecting some kind of attack after knocking. His eyes refocused on the gates as he heard them opening with a creaking whine. But to his shock, he saw no one behind them. He arched an eyebrow in confusion as he peeked inside, searching for the person who had supposedly opened them.

"_Bon soir monsieur,_ May I help you?" he heard a sweet soft voice with a French accent sat to him. He glanced to both sides but found no one.

"Down here _monsieur!_" he heard again and he looked down in surprise. There, supporting the big door was a round, light pink candy with tiny floating hands and feet, blinking at him with her large eyelashes and pink eyes shining innocently at him. He blinked a couple of times as he processed the bizarre image of a female looking Sour Bill in front of him.

"Uhm, hi?" he stuttered, still staring in belief at the tiny candy. "My name is Ralph. Wreck-It Ralph. I'm from the game _Fix_-_It_ _Felix_ _Jr_."

"Nice to meet you Sir Wreck-It," she said sweetly in her strong accent. "_Je m'appelle_ Bonbon Lola, but you may call me Lola. I'm Black Cola Castle's majordomo and her majesty's loyal advisor. What can I do for you?"

"Oh well I," Ralph managed to mumble out. "…I'm here as a representative of the Bad Anon group of Game Central Station. We, ah, we're a group made up of most of the arcade's Bad-Guys and we organize weekly meetings in which we offer support to other Bad-Guys and their troubles. It's a friendly and trusting environment for all of us and well, we wanted to formally welcome her… majesty… and invite her to attend the meetings." He offered a half smile, despite not feeling very confident.

The tiny female candy looked surprised and excited. "_Oh mon Dieu_! What a splendid idea! Her majesty will certainly be interested! Come in _s'il vous plait_! I'll gladly announce you!" She opened the gates wider to allow him to enter.

Ralph looked taken aback as he was not expecting to talk to the queen in person.

"Ah, I don't wanna bother her majesty," he said, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. "I just thought I'd drop the invitation and leave…"

"Nonsense _monsieur_,'' Lola said firmly, stepping aside to let him in."She will be greatly offended if she doesn't receive this invitation directly from you_. _I must insist!"

Ralph snorted but decided to play by their rules this time. He took three heavy footsteps as he entered the grand hall of the castle. Bonbon Lola closed the doors and quickly marched a few steps ahead of him.

"Follow me _s'il vous plait,_" she asked, and Ralph did as told.

He gasped at the contrasting elegancy of Black Cola Castle's insides. To his shock, the castle's interior was mostly white with a few touches of black on the furniture and on the tapestries and abstract paintings that adorned the walls. The floor was black, so clean and shining that he could see his reflection in the sparkling surface of the black marble while noting that it felt really cold against his bare feet. Everything looked sparkling clean and elegant, but with a certain air of loneliness. He wondered where the loud Sour Racers were as he noticed that no one else seemed to inhabit the castle.

"It's certainly different from Sugar Rush Castle," he thought out loud.

"Oh, _Monsieur_ has visited young Princess Vanellope's Castle?" Bonbon Lola asked him with curiosity, slightly glancing back at him.

Ralph went wide eyed, cursing his brain for allowing that thought to slip out.

"Ye-yes, I've known the 'president' for quite a while now," he admitted, looking forward to the female majordomo's reaction. "We've been friends for over a year now."

"_C'est magnifique!_ I wish the princess could come and visit her grace. I shall convince her majesty to make an exception for the little lady. I have so many good memories of the two of them before the…," Lola was interrupted as she glitched slightly, just like Sour Bill had. "_Oh mon Dieu_, I may have said too much!" she said, covering her mouth and looking straight ahead again, though with a slight look of sadness in her eyes.

Ralph noticed this but chose not to say anything. It was obvious that whatever Lola almost told him was related to the locked back story of Chocolette.

Suddenly, Ralph noticed a sweet, mysterious aroma waft into his nostrils and he unconsciously licked his lips as an unknown hunger set in.

"What is that smell?" he said sniffing, unable to get enough of the delicious scent.

"That must be the queen!" Lola piped in delight. "You're lucky Sir Wreck-It! The queen must be in a good mood if she is baking." She practically bounced over to a set of ornate doors.

As she opened them, the aroma of apples hit Ralph's nose with full force. He inhaled deeply, marveled by such a delicious smell when Lola speaking again brought him back to reality.

"Your majesty, you have a visitor," Lola bowed deeply as Ralph gasped at the sight in front of him.

There, dressed in a simple tight, black, long sleeve off-the-shoulder dress, with her back turned towards them, was Dark Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz, leaning over a chromed table with a hand on her hip and looking straight into a big black oven in front of her.

Ralph gulped as he felt his face turn hot when noticing the bare back of her dress. He heard her snort in annoyance without looking back at them.

"It better not be Razz again, or I swear to Atari that I'll turn her into a chocolate frog and serve her as dinner to the other racers tonight," the queen sang in a soft but threatening voice through gritted teeth. "I already told her that I'll repair the karts AFTER I'm done with this." She brushed her long black and white curly ponytail over her shoulder with her black nails, not even bothering to look at them.

Bonbon Lola cleared her throat and glanced back at Ralph with apologetic eyes.

"_M'lady_, it is not Lady Razz who has come to visit you…again," the majordomo chirped politely. "You have an outside visitor!"

"An outside visitor? Who," she said as she looked over her shoulder and gasped when she noticed a tall, familiar figure behind her advisor.

"This is Sir Wreck-It Ralph, your grace. He is a bad guy from the game _Fix_-_It_ _Felix_ _Jr_. He has come to personally deliver a very important invitation to her majesty." Bonbon Lola bowed in respect as she presented Ralph.

Ralph mentally cursed the tiny candy for having spoiled his intentions so embarrassingly.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my favorite big guy," the queen said, smirking and turning around to fully look at him. "This really is a very nice surprise visit." She began to slowly walk towards them, gently swaying her hips as she did.

Ralph gulped again as he became more nervous with each step she took.

"Oh, I didn't know you already knew each other!" Lola piped in delight as she raised her body again.

"Oh yes, I had the pleasure of meeting him yesterday after my surprise intervention at the Random Roster Race," she said stopping a few inches away from them.

"…your majesty," the pink majordomo scolded. "That was reckless! The poor little princess must have been so scared! I highly advised you against that idea!"

Chocolette smirk changed into a disapproving frown as she looked down at Bonbon Lola. "And it's my decision whether or not to follow your advice, my dear," the queen told her, annoyed by her scolding.

"Well of course _m'lady_, but..."

"Bonbon dear, why don't you go back to your chores," she said elegantly while narrowing her eyes at Ralph. "I'm pretty sure you still have lots of things to do and I don't want to waste your precious time anymore. I'll deal with our guest… personally."

_'PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE WITH HER!' _Ralph mentally pleaded as he glanced nervously at Lola for support.

"_Oui_ your grace, I'll go now," she said with a bow. "Enjoy your visit _monsieur! _Please send my sincere regards to the little princess and to my dear friend Sour Bill when you see them again. _Excusez-moi." _She bowed to Ralph and quickly disappeared behind the kitchen doors.

Ralph watched silently as the doors bounced behind her until they finally stood still, closed tight. He took a deep breath and slowly turned around to face Chocolette.

"Uhm so uh…I-I came here to…"

"Do you like apple pies Ralphie?" the queen interrupted him suddenly, with a familiar excited glint in her eyes.

"Wha-What?" he barely said, confused at her sudden change in demeanor.

She giggled at how shy he was acting. "I said: do you like apple pies, Ralphie?" she repeated slowly with a half smile.

"Uh… I…I haven't tried apple pies yet I think," he told her honestly with an arched eyebrow.

"Would you like a piece?" she said, signaling the oven. "I just made my very first today and I need somebody to taste it with me." She began walking over to the oven, moving her hips slowly in a swinging motion.

Ralph made a huge effort to not stare at her.

"Ah yeah sure, why not?" he said with uncertainty. She glanced back at him with the first sincere smile that he had ever seen on her.

"Great!" she said as she opened the oven to reveal a delicious looking smoking golden pie. "Make yourself comfortable. I'll serve it to you in just a moment."

Ralph noticed a large black table right nearby and decided to do as he was told. He was very intrigued by this new home-making side of her. Very slowly and carefully, he sat in one of the chairs next to the chair at the head of table that he supposed was for her since it looked 'fancier' than the rest, and sighed with relief as it supported his weight.

Chocolette came just a few minutes later with the piping hot pie on a silver plate, with two plates, a pair of forks and a long sharp knife that Ralph eyed suspiciously. She proceeded to cut a large portion of the pie (nearly three quarters of it) and served it to him while she kept the remaining piece for herself. She put his plate in front of him as she sat next to him at the head chair, putting a napkin over her lap and picking a fork.

She eyed him when she noticed that he was closely inspecting the pie with his fork. "Something bothering you big guy?" she asked him with a mischievous smirk.

Ralph sniffed the pie and then looked at her with a frown. "It's not… poisonous, is it?" he questioned her suspiciously to which the queen sniggered.

"Is it because it's an **apple pie** and I'm a **wicked queen**?" she smiled devilishly at him just as she took a bite of her own piece with gusto. "You're quite judgmental with me, big guy."

Ralph looked at her, stupefied as he dropped his frown immediately. What was he doing? He was judging her unjustifiably just as everybody in the arcade usually did towards the games' villains! He mentally scolded himself.

"Sorry, I-I didn't mean to…," he started to apologize but got interrupted by a dismissive gesture of her hand.

"It's ok dearie," she said with a half smile. "I usually give that first impression. You better taste it now while it's still warm though."

Ralph took his fork again, grasping it with two of his fingers and gave it a try. He marveled at the taste of the crunchy golden surface and the mushy soft and hot stuffing of the pie. He munched in delight at the naturally sweet flavor of the cinnamon and apples as they combined in his mouth with the crunchy textures, and swallowed with a blank expression on his features.

"So," the queen asked him softly with an eyebrow arched. "What do you think?"

Ralph looked at her, silently blinking a couple of times before smiling at her in amazement.

"I've gotta to admit that this is one of the best pies I have ever tried," he heartily complimented her and to his surprise, the queen blushed profusely at his words dropping her devilish smile as a shocked expression was drawn on her dark lips.

"You really think so?" she asked him as she kept eating her own slice. "Have you even ever tried a pie before?" she asked him intrigued.

Ralph put down his fork, picked up the entire piece in his hand and took a huge bite out of it with newfound hunger, munching with full cheeks in contentment.

"Well Mary, who's an NPC character in our game, bakes pies for Felix," he said with his mouth full, forgetting his manners. "They usually give him extra speed and resistance against my attacks for a short period of time. She also bakes them for us when we're not in game mode, for parties and stuff like that. They're quite good, though this one that you made will surely give her a run for her money." He took another bite of the pie, slightly moaning in delight.

Chocolette smirked at his last comment with pride. "That is very flattering to hear," she said as she continued eating her modest slice with regal elegance.

"This is so good," he said as he took the finishing bite of his piece. "I love that it's so crunchy on the outside and really soft and warm on the inside. I never imagined you could bake something as sweet as this. I mean, no offense, but you don't seem to be very fond of sweet things." He swallowed slowly, licking his lips to capture any remaining traces of the delicious pie.

"And I'm not. That pie doesn't have any sugar. Its sweet flavor comes from the natural sweetness of the apples and the cinnamon. Nothing else." She began cleaning her mouth delicately, picking away stray crumbs.

"That's really impressive," he said, cleaning his hands with the napkin that he had completely ignored until then.

The queen giggled at him in amusement. "So big guy, as much as it greatly pleases me to have you visiting me, I must ask you about the mysterious reason that brought you here. Has my sister sent you for something?" Her jovial smile became a serious frown, her vibrant green eyes shining at him with unbound curiosity.

Ralph stared at her intensively as his brain quickly debated between telling her the full truth… or hiding a few bits of it.

"Not really," he partially lied. He didn't want her to think that Vanellope was responsible for him coming to the queen's castle, worried about what kind of reaction the older Von Schweetz could have. "Though she does want to see you outside game hours and do some sisters bonding stuff. Anyway, I came here on behalf of Bad Anon to invite you to join us."

The queen looked at him quizzically. "Bad Anon? Sounds like a support group," she said with a judging frown.

"It's exactly that and don't judge," he scolded her by jabbing his index finger toward her, surprising her a bit. "Only bad guys attend the meetings and it's quite enjoyable. It offers a safe and trusting environment for us, where we can speak about our troubles or about anything we want to share with other fellow bad-guys who can better understand what we do and how we live."

The queen's eyes widened with interest. "Really? And all of the arcade's bad-guys attend these meetings?" she asked him with curiosity.

"Well no, not ALL of them, I mean I guess, except for Bowser, only those who don't live in the NES Central attend."

"How long has Bad Anon existed?" she asked him, supporting her chin with the back of her hand.

"For as long as I can remember, I guess," Ralph replied, searching his memory for answers. "Bowser and Clyde were the ones who founded it about a year before my game got plugged in. Clyde is the one who usually leads the meetings. He's from the classic game _Pacman _and Bowser originally came with his Good-Guy partner, Mario, in their first arcade version, but they've been upgraded so much lately that I'm not sure-"

Ralph was cut short in the middle of his explanation when he felt the queen's hand pressed softly against his cheek. His mind went blank as he looked into Chocolette's lime green eyes with his own shocked light brown ones, not understanding what was happening. She was smirking at him with her eyes half-lidded in a very seductive way. He felt her thumb softly and slowly caressing his cheek, before she retracted her hand back towards her face, looking at it smugly.

"You had a crumb on your face," she said, snickering evilly as Ralph felt the cheek that she had just touched go cold.

"And you attend the meetings regularly, big guy?" she said, quickly licking her thumb in front of him. She giggled mischievously as she noticed him blush profusely.

"I-I-… why did you?... don't do that again!" he barely managed to reprimand her with a blushing glare, earning more sniggers from her. He cleared his throat and proceeded to answer her question, trying his best to ignore the annoying electrical sensation that was going through his code. "Ye-Yes, I do attend them regularly. The meetings are on Mondays, two hours after the arcade closes."

The queen tangled her fingers with each other and made a thoughtful expression. "And you want me to attend these meetings and meet other bad-guys like us?" she asked him with both eyebrows raised in a doubtful manner.

"Well… yeah… I mean, it's nice and I don't think you've left your game yet so you don't really know how hard it actually is to be a bad-guy out there," he told her, frowning.

She went silent for a long minute, staring at the ceiling in deep concentration. Without warning, she hit the table with a toothy grin aimed at Ralph.

"All right big guy, I'll go but under two conditions," she said, leaning in to look him straight in the eyes, barely inches away from his face.

Ralph rolled his eyes while slightly backing away as he once again felt goose bumps in his code. "It's not wise to make deals with bad guys," he said, eyeing her with slight suspicion. "There's always a trap."

"Only if you're a good-guy," she said seductively while batting her eyelashes. "Trust me on this, it's a really good deal." She glanced playfully at his lips as she closed the gap between their faces.

Ralph froze, not knowing how to react or what to do. Part of his brain was screaming at him to run away from her as fast as his legs could carry him while the other part kept him immobile, glued to his chair, hypnotized by the queen's glittering eyes.

"One," she said, flexing her index finger at him. "If I don't like it the first time, you'll not force me to go back if I don't want to, ok?" She looked at him with a childish pout that strongly reminded him of Vanellope's.

"And two," she said as she slowly breathed into his ear, much to his shock. "You'll call me by my name." She finished with a playful giggle.

Ralph blinked, the red color of his cheeks fading. "That's it? Just that?" he asked her doubtfully. "What's the catch?"

Chocolette laughed maniacally, stepping back a few steps from him while putting her hands on her hips. "There's no catch, here big guy. I told you, it's a simple deal." Her smug expression had the wrecker convinced otherwise.

Ralph narrowed his eyes at her as the shadow of a smile appeared over his features. "All right, but you'll also call me by my name. No more pet names," he demanded with a smug grin of his own.

"Awwww, but I love pet names!" she pouted and Ralph again saw Vanellope in her.

"Do we have a deal or not?" he asked her.

She frowned but quickly smirked at him once again. "You have it… Ralphie," she giggled and Ralph rolled his eyes, knowing that it was only a matter of time before she broke the deal about the pet names.

"Alright, let me change into something more comfortable," she told him. She snapped her fingers and a thick purple smoke covered her from head to toe and in the blink of an eye it disappeared, revealing the queen's outfit had changed to her black and purple racing jump suit.

"Wait… you're coming to today's meeting?" he said in shock while standing back.

"Well of course! I think we have half an hour left before it starts so we better get going. BONBON!" she shouted and the tiny pink candy instantly appeared.

"_Oui_ your grace?" Lola bowed, waiting for her orders.

"I'm leaving with Ralph to Game Central Station, which means that you're in charge of the castle and the Sour Racers. Don't wait up for me," she ordered her loyal servant, as both Lola and Ralph exchanged shocked expressions with each other.

"Let's go Ralph!" she said walking ahead of him.

"Oh boy…" was the only thing that Ralph could think of to say as he followed her.

-0-0-0-

**End of chapter 5! Hope it has been worth the long wait! Chapter 6 will be up next shortly.**

**Sorry if your questions about the queen's back story weren't answered. This will be revealed later.**

**Quick question for all my readers, if Chocolette had a villainous Disney musical theme number, what song do you think will work better for her? For now I'm thinking something along the lines of "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, but I'm curious to know what are your opinions about the matter. If you are wondering how her voice sounds like, I constantly imagine her being voiced by Lana Parrilla, the actress who plays as the evil queen from Once Upon a Time TV series. She is so awesome! **

**Anyways! Thank you for reading and please don't forget to leave a review! **


	6. First date?

**Many thanks again to my dear friend and beta reader, The Phantom Soldier, for helping on the edition of this chapter :)**

**Chapter 6: First date?**

Chocolette walked through a different corridor as Ralph hurried to catch up with her. He was still shocked by how easy had it been to convince the queen into attending the Bad-Anon meeting, and was even more shocked by the fact that she had decided to attend it that night.

Bonbon Lola struggled to keep pace with them, as she was considerably shorter than the two bad-guys. "_M'lady s'il vous plait! _I-I don't know if this is such a good idea. What if General Nabisco finds out that you've left the castle?! What if he tries to arrest you?!" she shouted concerned.

The wicked queen snorted sarcastically. "I have a hunch the old man will be relieved about me leaving the game for the night ," she said with an excited smirk on her lips. "Pull your sugar-free self together Lola. Didn't you give me a lecture yesterday about making friends and all that jazz?" The queen adjusted her purple cat-eye shaped goggles on the top of her head.

"_Oui_ your grace but-"

"Well I'm going to be making some pretty _badass friends _tonight, right Ralphie?" she asked him with a half smile as he finally matched her stride.

"Ah, I guess that will depend on how the meeting goes for ya, but yeah sure," he said with an eyebrow raised in doubt as he kept walking with her.

Lola sighed in resignation. "What should I do about the Sour Racers, your majesty?"

The queen glanced at her with an annoyed look etched on her face. "I don't know! Just… Just tell them to guard the castle! Oh yeah, and the perimeters too. I don't want any of those sugar brats prowling around my land. That'll surely keep them distracted for a while; Tell them those were my explicit orders and you know, the typical 'you know what will happen if you fail' finish line."

Ralph frowned a little at her. It wasn't that he really cared much about the Sugar Racers but they were Vanellope's friends after all. He worried about what would happen to them if Chocolette's racers attacked while she was absent.

The queen opened another set of tall black doors that led to a dark and spacious new room. Ralph narrowed his eyes as he watched the queen disappear into the darkness; he looked at Lola with a confused frown just as he heard the sound of snapping fingers and the lights turned on instantly, revealing what looked like the royal garage of the castle. Chocolette's monstrous black racing kart was in the middle of the room, its slick and shining black marzipan surface sparkling under the white neon lights.

Ralph gasped as his brain figured out what Chocolette was intending to do.

"Hop on Ralphie!" she said seductively as she strapped her gloves on. "We're going for a ride!"

Ralph's brow knit into a straight line at her not so subtle innuendo. "We can't go in your kart, Chocolette" he told her, using her name for the first time. Lola looked at him in utter shock as the queen's playful smile dropped in confusion.

"Why not?" she asked him, sounding a bit angry as she put both of her hands on her hips. "Are you afraid of high speed rides?"

He snorted at her with an equally arched eyebrow. "No your 'sassiness'; game vehicles in general are forbidden in Game Central Station."

Chocolette went wide eyed in surprise, not expecting that answer at all. "Oh… okay, and how are we supposed to get to wherever this meeting is," she asked him crossing her arms in annoyance.

Ralph chuckled at her stubbornness. "I don't suppose you know how to walk, right?" he asked her sarcastically.

"Look who's being sassy now," she said with a smirk, finding his newfound confidence with her quite enjoyable. She walked out of the garage at his side again.

"Come on now, we only have half an hour," he said as walked with her towards the castle's main entrance, leaving a very confused Bonbon Lola behind.

Flabbergasted, she saw them disappear behind the big chocolate doors. A tiny, knowing smile crept over her facial features. "Hopefully this will turn for the best," she said as she turned on her feet and glanced back at the door with hopeful eyes.

-0-0-0-

The bright blue light of the place blinded Chocolette for a moment after stepping out of the _Sugar_ _Rush_ terminal. Her eyes bugged in amazement at her surroundings, noticing each singular game character walking by in the crowed main area of Game Central Station.

Ralph stood by her side slightly glancing down at her with a half smile, amused by her dumbfounded expression which reminded him of Vanellope's first time seeing the station. He mentally promised himself to help them build their sisterly bond.

The dark queen looked up at him with an arched eyebrow. "So, lead the path," she mockingly ordered him with a queen-like wave of her hand.

Ralph rolled his eyes at her and just as he was taking his first steps, Chocolette yelped in surprise as an alarm went off right after Ralph had crossed through what she thought was an invisible wall at the terminal's entrance. Ralph grunted in annoyance, face palming as the Surge Protector made his routine appearance.

"You gotta gimme a break man," he told him irritated.

As usual, the blue man didn't even look at him once. "Name?" he asked in his typical monotonous voice.

Exasperated, Ralph proceeded with the supposedly 'random' security check quickly. "Wreck-It Ralph, comin' from _Sugar Rush 2_ and going to _Pacman_… no food this time and yes I** still** hate you," he answered through gritted teeth.

Chocolette sniggered behind him and the Surge Protector raised his eyes for the first time to discover the unknown source of the faint laugh. He offered her a sheepish smile. "Ahm… excuse me ma'am but I'm afraid I've never seen you before. Could you give me your name please?" His voice was dripping with honey as he looked her up and down.

Ralph's jaw dropped in disbelief at the sudden change in attitude of the Surge while Chocolette eyed him with a frown.

"The name is Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz, my dear little man, and yes I'm 'new' around here" she said proudly, crossing her arms under her bust.

Ralph wrinkled his nose at her vivaciousness while Surge wrote down her information. "Oh! A new royal character uh? Very well, and what is her highness's alignment if may I ask?"

Leaning a bit to look him straight in the eyes, Chocolette grinned viciously. "Bad guy," she said in a dark tone.

The usually unflappable Surge Protector bugged his eyes in surprise and stopped writing on his clipboard. "Oh… oh…you-you must be Sugar Rush's new update then…uhmm." He stuttered as he fixed the collar of his shirt nervously. "Well there are a few rules you must…," he started saying but changed his mind as he noticed the threatening glare that the queen was suddenly throwing at him. "You must probably know already of course!" He laughed fearfully. "Well, enjoy your first visit to Game Central Station! All royal characters have special discounts at _Tapper's_. Have a nice evening!" He disappeared instantly.

Ralph blinked several times as he stared at the spot where the Surge Protector had been standing. The gears of his brain started to move again as he looked at Chocolette wide eyed.

"What in Atari's name just happened?" he blurted in confusion.

"I can be very persuasive when I want to, my dear Ralphie," she winked at him and Ralph felt his cheeks burn at her gesture.

"Right, remind me to explain the arcade's rules to you later and let's just hurry to _Pacman_" he said, already walking ahead of her, trying his best to hide his blushing face from her view.

-0-0-0-

"This game looks ANCIENT!" Chocolette's voice echoed in the tunnel while they were both traveling on _Pacman_'s train. "Is your game as old as this one?"

Ralph sighed deeply, trying very hard not to lose his temper with the queen as she had been asking him thousands of questions the last 30 minutes since they left _Sugar_ _Rush's_ terminal. He had officially concluded that both Von Schweetz sisters had A LOT more in common than what he already expected, both being rude, sharp mouthed and sarcastic; the difference was mostly that Chocolette seemed to be more conscious about her malice when speaking than Vanellope, something that was obviously because of their different programing.

He looked at her with his brows formed in a straight line, only earning a flirtatious bat of her eyelashes in response. "Aw come on Ralph! I'm just messing with ya, you know?" She leaned over his arm and pressed her bust against him on purpose.

He whirled his head around immediately as he felt his pixels burn with her proximity. What was it with this girl having so much of an effect on him? She was not the first 'Bad Girl' he had ever met in 30 years and yet she had managed to affect his binary code in so many embarrassing and inexplicable ways. He could feel his entire body turn hot and closed in, but still he couldn't bring himself to push her away from him.

The train finally stopped at the main entrance of _Pacman_ but Chocolette didn't budge from her spot.

Feeling a sudden spark of confidence deep in his program, Ralph smirked down at her. "Chocolette," he crooned softly.

The queen giggled as she heard him call her by her name. "Yes Ralphie?" she sang sweetly.

"Get off," Ralph said firmly while gently shoving his arm a little to shake her off, never losing his smirk.

Chocolette sniggered devilish but finally released him, not wanting to push her luck with him any further. She descended from the train first and gave a quick glance at _Pacman's_ 8-bit main entrance, noticing the works of graffiti all over the walls. Ralph walked ahead into the dark portal.

"Come on ya royal pain," he called back to her. "No time for sightseeing, we're already late." Chocolette quickly tailed him, a predatory smile spreading across her lips.

-0-0-0-

Ralph was the first to arrive in the room since he was already familiar with the game's maze. He noticed most of the members of Bad Anon waiting in their chairs, ready to start the meeting.

Zangief was the first to greet him. "Ralph my friend! You came! Congratulations for update! Big moment for you and your Good-Guy, yes?" he said in his thick Russian accent, flashing a friendly smile.

Dr. Eggman adjusted his glasses as he noticed Ralph's physically updated appearance. "We thought you were not going to come today. How is the update going?"

The wrecker smiled at them awkwardly, sensing Chocolette's heeled steps approaching in the distance. "Well… everything seems fine for now… Felix says we still have to wait a little longer before giving a proper judgment on the new changes," he told them not quite entirely referring to his own game's update.

"I heard that Sugar Rush got a new Bad-Guy! Did you happen to meet him while you visited your little friend?" Satine asked him suddenly, shifting everybody's attention to Ralph.

"New Bad-Guy updates are so rare! There hasn't been one in Game Central Station in years!" The only other female villain, Sorceress the blue elf, said playfully as she floated above her chair.

"Yeah about that-"

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen and what a fine group of evil doers we have tonight," Chocolette cut Ralph off abruptly, stepping out from behind him and into everyone's view.

The room went silent for a few seconds, with everybody silently blinking in confusion at the unknown and quite gorgeous female companion that Ralph had brought with him. The wrecker face palmed at the awkwardness, with Chocolette arching an eyebrow quizzically at everyone.

She decided to introduce herself properly. "My name is Chocolette Von Schweetz, racer queen and main villain of _Sugar_ _Rush_ _2_," she finished with a wink and a two fingered military salute.

Everybody gaped at her with wide eyes, except for Ralph who just chuckled at her bravado.

"You are _Sugar_ _Rush's_ new bad-guy?"

"A bad-girl queen?"

"We haven't had a royal villain since Bowser!"

"This is so unexpected!"

All of them blurted incoherent and rapid questions at the same time, startling the queen a bit.

"This is quite a pleasant surprise." The bad-guys whirled around to see Clyde entering the room with a half smile drawn on his 8-bit lips. "We gladly welcome her highness to Bad Anon. We are honored by her presence.

Clyde politely bowed in a straight down line movement and everyone mimicked him in the same fashion. Ralph cocked an eyebrow in puzzlement, not grasping the meaning of the importance of Chocolette being a royal bad-guy. He had to admit that he had never heard of the case in the arcade, but to him Chocolette didn't seem out of ordinary, at least as a bad girl. But then again, the only 'royalty' he had ever met were Vanellope and Bowser, since bad-guys were rarely given the chance to meet any royal character outside their own games.

"Geez guys, no need for formalities, please! I'm just another bad-guy just like all of you. Relax!" She waved at them with a sheepish smile much to Ralph's amusement.

Everyone raised their heads again as Clyde smiled apprehensively. "Oh but it is a very important thing, your highness. You'll understand it soon enough," he said solemnly as he took his rightful seat in the circle.

Chocolette and Ralph exchanged confused looks with each other, but neither said another word.

"Well why don't we use this meeting to know more about our new member, fellas," Clyde said while everyone took their usual seats. "But first, let's introduce ourselves to her, who wants to go first?"

Ralph brought an extra chair and gestured Chocolette to sit next to him, to which she most eagerly accepted, squishing herself between him and Zombie.

He then noticed an empty chair next to Zangief and realized that Bowser hadn't arrived yet.

"Clyde, shouldn't we wait for Bowser?" Satine asked out loud to Ralph's surprise. "He never misses a meeting."

Clyde frowned in a worried manner. "I'm afraid I haven't heard anything from Bowser since the installation of his new home at NES Central, so I'm not really sure if he's going to be able join us today. But don't worry, I'm pretty sure he'll be back as soon as he has solved whatever business he must be attending to in the Mushroom Kingdom." He offered a reassuring half smile, easing everybody's worries. It was Bowser after all, one of the most powerful bad guys there was.

-0-0-0-

The meeting quickly started. One by one the members introduced themselves and told brief summaries of who they were, what their current jobs in their games were, a little bit of their back stories and how they dealt with the drama of being bad-guys inside and outside their own games.

Queen Chocolette listened to them, at first amused and entertained, but halfway through it she started to get bored, and then she became annoyed and finally pissed, especially after listening to all of their 'dramas'.

But then, when it was almost over, Ralph's turn came and her attention quickly returned. She sat herself straight as she listened to every single detail of Ralph's story. She frowned in disapproval as the wrecker explained his life before meeting her sister, learning about the bad-guy social stigma and understanding why the support group was formed in the first place. She also gasped in shock when she learned about his bold game jumping adventure, and how he ended up destroying a crazy old foe of the arcade and became the hero of the queen's original game.

Once he finished, Chocolette slumped back in her chair, crossing her arms with an angry frown plastered on her face. Clyde noticed the queen's expression and decided to interrupt. "Is something bothering you, your grace?" he asked her politely.

Ralph looked at her after mostly ignoring her during the whole introduction and took notice of her demeanor. "Do you want my honest opinion?" she asked in a monotonous tone with a raised eyebrow; Clyde bowed affirmatively.

Chocolette sighed deeply as she rolled her eyes; she stood up with her hands on her wide hips. "I think…," she started slowly. "You all are a bunch of wusses." She declared with a scolding frown, earning collective gasps from all of the bad-guys.

Ralph's eyes almost fell out of their sockets and his jaw dropped in utter shock at the queen's reckless claim. He glanced nervously at everyone in the meeting and after quickly regaining his composure he proceeded to scold her.

"Chocolette, that is not-"

"Wait Ralph, let her finish," Clyde cut him short, the only one who didn't seem shocked at the queen's confession. The wrecker looked at him confused but decided to let him be.

"And why does her majesty believe that?" the orange ghost asked her with a confident smile.

"Well, first of all I don't see why you guys have to worry so much about what other characters may think of you," she started, glancing at everyone in general. "As far as I understand it, it's just a job we do, right? So stop moping about it! Don't you love your jobs?" She flashed them a smirk.

Ralph noticed everyone nodding and affirming her words. He mentally admitted to enjoy his wrecking job.

"See?" she said, smiling a little more brightly. "It's all right, it can't be wrong if we love our jobs and it's a really important job my people! Take dear Ralphie's example here: his game almost got unplugged because he didn't come to wreck a simple building for one day. Imagine what would happen if all of us decided to miss our jobs for a day?" That thought silenced the room and even shocked Clyde with the realization. "With all due respect… I think the arcade in general underestimate us completely…" Her voice echoed in the room, and to Ralph's shock he found himself silently agreeing with her.

"Honestly, we are bad-guys, but we're not really bad… unless well, the situation requires for us to be bad," she chuckled and Ralph saw some of the others sniggering with her. "And hey, if someone is treating us bad, why do we have to put up with that? I'm not saying you have to go and do anything drastic, oh no no, but one tiny but strong threat every once in a while will keep the snobbish ones off your back effectively." She gave a half smile as she checked her black nails.

Ralph frowned at her in disapproval but found himself even more surprised at the fact that everybody, including Clyde, was nodding at her and mischievously smirking in understanding. He wondered if it had been a mistake bringing her to the meeting.

Clyde cleared his throat, redirecting everyone's attention back to him. "That's a pretty bold affirmation, m'lady, though we have to remember that our goal is to gain the arcade community's acceptance, not their fear," he finished solemnly.

Chocolette rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, old man. I just think you guys should start behaving more according to who you are instead of how people want you to be."

A couple of 'Yeahs' and 'She's rights' were exchanged among the attendants as the queen sat back down next to Ralph. She looked at him arrogantly as she crossed her arms with a snort, while Ralph furrowed his brow, still disapproving of her behavior.

"Well, since everyone has already shared today, I guess it has come to your turn, m'lady," Clyde said with a pixelated brow raised.

She straightened herself and grinned evilly at him. "All right, let's do this your way old man…," she said as she leaned forward and supported her elbows on her knees, tangling her fingers with each other.

Ralph focused his entire attention to her this time, eager to finally discover more about the sassy queen's 'story' and hopefully figure out what her real intentions were. Did she have a traumatic back story just like most of them? Was she fully aware that everything was just part of her 'job'? He hoped to find answers to all his friends' and his own questions.

"My name is Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz and I'm a bad girl," she started, giving a flirtatious look at Ralph.

"Hi Chocolette," everybody greeted as usual.

"I'm from the game _Sugar_ _Rush_ _Speedway_ _2_, and I'm Princess-"

"President," Ralph corrected her smugly.

She wrinkled her nose at him. "…Right… President Vanellope Von Schweetz's older sister, who also happens to be my game's main good-guy. So far my job consists of preventing my sister or any other avatar the gamers choose, from winning the races. I'm a badass racer, no pun intended, and nobody can honestly beat me at it. I can use any trick to win with my wicked powers, even if it's not fair or safe enough which doesn't really matter since everyone can regenerate after all." She sniggered darkly, earning a glare from Ralph.

"And… about my back story-"

"Sorry for being late Clyde," said a raspy booming voice suddenly, and everyone whirled to acknowledge a familiar giant figure.

"Bowser?" Ralph gasped, looking at the legendary bad guy with his eyebrows arched in surprise.

Bowser slowly stepped inside the room with difficulty; he looked uncharacteristically old and tired, his scaled skin darkened and more defined with some faint wrinkles and rings drawn under his red dragon eyes. He also had some prominent battle scars all over his jaw, chest and arms that, even though they looked severe, were obviously already healed.

Sorceress quickly levitated away from her chair, which was next to the legendary bad guy, as she signaled for him to sit in her spot instead, noticing his fatigue with worry. Oddly, he didn't refuse and did as she suggested, the chair whining in complaint as he set his new heavy weight down slowly and carefully.

"Thank you sweetheart," he said with a sigh, making her blush.

"Congratulations on your upgrade, old friend," Clyde greeted him with worried eyes. "Seems though that it's taken too much from you this time."

Bowser looked at him with a tired smirk. "Well, that comes with being so popular I guess. We got another massive fighting game again."

Chocolette leaned over to Ralph as Bowser kept talking with Clyde. "Is that the other big bad-guy you mentioned before?" she asked him in a whisper.

"Yeah that's Bowser," Ralph whispered back. "He's the only one from NES Central who comes to the meetings. He is also a royal bad guy like you." Chocolette kept her eyes glued on the turtle dragon with curiosity.

"If you need help we can always assist you with some training, right Zangief?" M. Bison offered with a friendly smile.

"Oh yes, of course!" the Russian Street Fighter agreed.

"Thanks folks but I must remind you that this is not my first fighting game," he said with a dismissive gesture. "And it's not the fights that has me this tired but the politics!" He began massaging his temples with a scaly talon.

Ralph and Chocolette noticed Clyde frown. "The Princesses Council again?" the 8-bit ghost asked dryly.

"Yes… hopefully Peach will calm down soon, but I highly recommend you avoid visiting NES Central if you don't have any serious business to attend there," he said, earning whispers of confusion from all of the members. "It's nothing serious, really. But you know how the princesses can over react when scared." His assessment earned knowing chuckles from the group.

"I'm sure everything will turn out fine soon. Well folks, let's just finish the meeting here so we can all return to our homes and have a proper reset, shall we?" Clyde announced and everybody stood to recite the Bad-Guy Affirmation.

Chocolette looked confused as she stood up and saw everybody take each other's hand. She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she saw Zombie clumsily trying to take her right hand, but then her expression dropped when she felt her left hand being wrapped into a massive, warm and welcoming object. She whirled in shock to discover that Ralph's big hand had been the source of the unknown feeling, and slightly blushed as she exchanged wide eyes with him for an instant.

They both glitched after looking into each other's eyes but quickly looked away in stubborn embarrassment while a slight blush crept up on their faces' pixels.

As everybody chanted the group's motto, Bowser whispered secretly. "Clyde, who is that new bad-girl who just made Ralph glitch like a school girl?"

"She's _Sugar_ _Rush's_ new main villain and Princess Vanellope's older sister apparently. She's a royal too," he said in a half knowing smile with one open eye.

"Interesting," Bowser commented as they finished with the recite.

Just as everybody waved their goodbyes, Bowser and Clyde approached Ralph and Chocolette.

"I offer my sincere apologies for the interruption, m'lady," Bowser bowed to her apologetically with a knowing smile, a claw over his shelled chest. "My name is Bower, Koopa King and bad-guy of the Mushroom Kingdom. It's an honor to meet you."

The wicked queen looked up at him with a proud smile. "The honor is mine! My name is Chocolette Von Schweetz, racer queen of _Sugar_ _Rush_. Ralph speaks very highly of you," she said cheerfully, bowing respectfully to Bowser.

Bowser smiled in amusement. "I'm sure he has" he said while looking down at Ralph, who know matched his eye-level. "You have grown a few inches, _boy_. Mario told me about Fix-Its upgrade. Congratulations to you too." Ralph cringed at being called 'boy' which earned a muffled giggle from Chocolette.

"Thanks… grandpa!" he mockingly barked back at him, and the giant dragon laughed loudly.

"Ha ha! If you ever feel like giving a REAL try to those new muscles of yours, you should come to my new home in _Super Smash Bros. Brawl_ once things have calmed down with the princesses," he said slapping Ralph's back hard in amusement.

"I'll think about it," Ralph said sheepishly, flinching in pain at each friendly hit.

"I can assure you, m'lady, this guy right here is one of the greatest bad-guys around the arcade, so don't let him escape your grasp!" the old bad guy said with a knowing smile as the queen smirked victoriously and Ralph blushed with an annoyed frown.

"Real smooth my friend," Clyde said with a mischievous smirk. "Anyways, I hope you can forgive our interruption today, your grace. I'll make sure you have the first turn next week so you can tell us about your back story."

"Oh! It's okay, really! I was just going to say that my back story is still locked so I'm still clueless about it," she answered him with a shrug, earning a surprised look from Ralph.

"Oh well, then I hope her majesty still graces us with another visit next week," Clyde smiled with his eyes closed.

Ralph looked at Chocolette out of the corner of his eye, interested in her answer as he remembered the deal they made before coming to _Pacman_.

"Sure thing old man. It has been quite entertaining," she said, smirking with a slight bow of her head. Ralph smiled unconsciously.

"Excellent! We'll see you both next week then. Enjoy the rest of the evening, children," Bowser jokingly said with a bow as he proceeded to leave. Ralph and Chocolette waved their goodbyes to Clyde and left right behind Bowser.

"Well, that was interesting," Chocolette said as they walked side by side through the dark maze.

Ralph looked down at her with a smirk. "I told you it was cool. Was I right or was I right?"

"Yeah, yeah don't get too cocky with me. It's certainly more entertaining than staying in the castle with Lola and the Sour Racers," she said with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm heading to _Tapper's_ right now to meet with Felix and your sister. Care to join me?" he asked with surprising confidence.

"What's _Tapper's_ and why is my sister there?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

"It's a bar," he said before suddenly realizing how wrong that sounded when her eyes bugged.

"My 13 year old sister is in a bar waiting for you?" she said, frowning in disbelief. Ralph didn't quite understand why it bothered her that much but still smiled at her slight show of concern.

"Uh… I know how that sounded but it's not like that," he said, scratching the back of his neck. "Tapper only serves root beers, totally alcohol free."

"Okay… is the sergeant lady going to be there?" she asked him with curiosity.

"Probably, she usually tags along with Felix," he replied as a mocking smile spread across his face. "Why? Are you scared of her?"

Her cheeks huffed stubbornly. "You can't blame me for being cautious. I heard what that blue hedgehog said while we crossed Game Central Station, and I'm not risking myself getting permanently deleted because of the crazy temperamental wife of your good-guy."

Ralph sniggered. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," he said and he instantly blushed profusely after hearing himself. Just why exactly had he said something like that, he wondered.

Chocolette smirked with her eyes narrowed at him. "Oh my hero," she mockingly said as she raised a hand to her forehead in a fake damsel in distress fashion, leaning over Ralph's arm pretending to faint.

Ralph's blush dropped and he quickly shook her off his shoulder with a chuckle. "Oh shut up! Are you comin' or not?" he asked her.

She tangled her arm around his. "Lead the path my handsome bad man!" she ordered him loudly, as they hopped on the train with the rest of the bad guys. Much to his own embarrassment, Ralph's bad-guy friends chuckled at him.

-0-0-0-

**Check my Tumblr (KicaCris) and my Deviantart account (GND-KicaCris) for some brand new art of the story! Some are a bit spoilerific ;)**


	7. Two bad guys, two evil plans!

**Original story by GND-KicaCris.**

**Revised and edited by The Phantom Soldier.**

**"Wreck-it Ralph" © Disney**

**Chapter 7: Two bad guys, two evil plans.**

"I wonder how Ralph did" Vanellope pondered from her stool at their bar's counter as Felix and Calhoun drank their root beers.

"Knowing Wreck-It, he probably left the invitation at the castle's door and ran away," Calhoun said with a mocking smirk as she gave a quick sip to her drink. "He doesn't seem to be skilled in dealing with the department of the opposite sex."

Her short husband frowned at her as he taped the table with his fingers. "Well in his defense, he doesn't have many lady friends apart from you and little 'V' here," Felix defended his brother with a sheepish smile. "I don't think the girls from Nicetown count since most of them still seem wary of him."

"It would be so cool if he dates my sister," Vanellope piped cheerfully, supporting her face with her two tiny hands in a dreamy manner.

Calhoun cocked an eyebrow at her as she put down her tall glass. "Kid, they just met yesterday! We aren't even sure if your sister is trustworthy yet, let alone if Ralph would be interested in dating her." She patted Vanellope's head lovingly.

The princess made president huffed at the sergeant. "Are you kidding me?! I told you already, my sister is cool! She can't be bad! No way! AND I just know that she and Ralph are destined for each other." She finished by confidently crossing her arms.

Felix chuckled at her innocence. "How are you so sure about that last part?" he asked her, playing along.

"Because I'm a _princess_, gaddoi," she declared smugly. "We princesses are EXPERTS on this matter because we have 'romance' written in our codes! No character knows more about _looooooove_ than a princess." She batted her eye lashes to punctuate her statement.

Calhoun and Felix exchanged smiles. "But you're not a princess, pipsqueak, you're a president," Calhoun teased.

Vanellope knit her eyebrows in a straight line, dropping her smile. "You know what I'm saying so bite me," she barked at them as they both laughed loudly at her in amusement.

Just then, Felix noticed the colossal frame of his antagonist entering the bar.

"Oh look! Ralph's here!" He pointed with a gloved finger, making Vanellope and Tamora spin around in the direction he was aiming at.

The three gaped when they saw Vanellope's older sister enter behind him, her eyes wandering around her surroundings in curiosity.

"Oh my land!" Felix beamed in surprise as he readjusted his cap to look better.

"Is that-?"

"It's Ralph and he brought my sister with him!" Vanellope exclaimed excitedly. She stood up on her stool with her hands in the air and waved at them. Ralph and Chocolette immediately averted the younger jumping Von Schweetz and walked their way towards them.

"Hey guys!" he greeted them with a toothy grin. "I almost thought I wasn't gonna make it on time to meet you guys here." He glanced around for spare tools to sit on.

Chocolette stood next to him with a smirk as she eyed her sister with an arched eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be in bed already lil' sis?" she asked in a playful tone.

"Sis!" Vanellope cheered, jumping over to hug her around her waist. Chocolette froze in shock at her sudden show of affection, not knowing how to react as her arms hovered on each of her sides. She felt three pairs of eyes looking smugly at her.

"You didn't stay long after the arcade closed and since I'm not allowed to go to BlackColaCastle, we couldn't hang out today!" Vanellope rapidly complained with pouty cheeks and big puppy-dog eyes.

Chocolette smiled awkwardly at her. "Y-yeah sorry," she said as she tried to pry Vanellope from her waist. "I had things to do, you know? Queen stuff to attend to!"

"Oh right, because baking pies is a REALLY important royal duty," Ralph joked as he eyed the queen down with a cocked eyebrow. Chocolette wrinkled the side of her mouth and rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"You bake pies ma'am?" Felix chimed in delight as Calhoun crossed her arms and looked slightly jealous. "That's outstanding! Are they good? Did you try any, brother?" Felix looked almost as excited as Vanellope.

"Yep and I gotta admit it, Mary has some serious competition now," he said as he sat on a stool and gestured for Tapper.

Vanellope noticed her sister cast a small proud smile while her cheeks became slightly rosy. She giggled and her sister quickly returned her focus to her clinging frame. "Are you gonna let me go any time soon, princess cavity?" she asked in a tone of amused annoyance.

Vanellope looked at her with a scolding frown before letting her go. "It's _president_, not _princess_," she corrected her with a wave of her index finger, earning a chuckle from the older Von Schweetz.

"Does that make me a dictator or something?" she asked her sarcastically with her hands on her wide hips. Vanellope giggled with a nod as she glitched and appeared on Ralph's shoulder.

"I guess so! 'The Dark Dictator Chocolette Von Schweetz'. Hey, it has a nice ring to it!" Vanellope gestured an invisible title above her head with a wide toothy grin. Her sister shook her head in disapproval.

"I'm keeping the queen title, thank you very much," she leered at her sister darkly, earning a frown from Ralph.

Chocolette took her sister´s abandoned stool and sat next to him, glancing at the Fix-Its. "I hope you don't mind me joining you tonight… Fix-Its, right?" she asked with elegant sarcasm.

Calhoun narrowed her eyes at her. "Yes, but its Calhoun to you, queenie," she barked, struggling with being friendly with the dark queen. Her 'good-guy' code was tingling in the back of her skull, telling her to keep her guard up.

"You can call me Felix, ma'am, and it's great to have you join us tonight," Felix said as he took off his cap in respect.

Tapper approached them with his usual mustachioed smile. "Hey Ralph, good to see you," the friendly bartender greeted him. "Nice upgrade." He said as he noticed Ralph's new height and gloved knuckles.

"Thank's Tapper, but it's no big deal," Ralph grinned blushingly at his old confidant, scratching the back of his neck with a gloved hand.

"Hohoho, but you've already got a lady friend with you! May I offer you a root bear miss?" The bartender smiled with courtesy to Chocolette who smirked knowingly at Ralph while Vanellope sniggered on his shoulder.

Ralph blushed profusely. "Sh-she is not-"

"I would gladly accept your offer my good man" she elegantly interrupted the reddened wrecker. "The name is Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz, pleased to meet you." With a light giggle, she shook the bartender's hand. Ralph could read in her eyes that teasing him in public was turning into her favorite hobby.

"Oh! A royal! Ralph you dog!" Tapper chuckled, and this time Calhoun and Felix joined him in as Ralph face palmed himself in embarrassment.

"Cut it out Tapper!" Ralph barked in annoyance, his face still red. "She's just Vanellope's older sister, okay?"

"I'm sorry my friend, I was just messing with ya! Two root beers coming!" With a practiced hand, the bartender slid two tall foaming glasses to them. Ralph caught both effortlessly with his hands, and handed one to Chocolette who still had a mocking smirk plastered on her face. Tapper left them to attend to other costumers.

Ralph looked down at Chocolette, ignoring the giggles from Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope. "I swear I'll get you back for this," he said, glaring daggers at her.

Chocolette took a sip from her root beer with a chuckle and narrowed her eyes seductively at him. "Oh I can't wait for that," she said gently as she licked her bottom lip teasingly, much to Ralph's distress and making the Fix-Its hit their table in mirth as the humor had gotten too much for them to bear.

"Knock it off!" Ralph insisted with wide eyes; his glass slightly cracking for his tense grip as Chocolette laughed heartily too.

Calhoun wiped her eyes as she tried to recover her breath. "Oh my, I haven't laughed this much since my bachelorette party. I've got to admit, you've earned some brownie points with me here for embarrassing Wreck-St like a pro." She raised her glass in the air in a cheering gesture.

"You should have seen him before we came here. You missed a couple of stellar moments at the Bad Anon and when I invited him to eat some apple pie at my castle." She sniggered, mimicking Calhoun as she also raised her glass at her. "I might turn this into a sport if I keep hanging out with him" she said as she took another sip of her drink with her eyes closed.

Chocolette yelped in surprise as Vanellope jumped off Ralph's shoulder and landed gracefully in front of her with hopeful shining eyes. "Does that mean that you're going to hang out with us from now on?" she chirped at her.

Calhoun and Felix dropped their smiles as they exchanged quizzical looks with Ralph, who secretly looked down at Chocolette out of the corner of his eye as he pretended to keep drinking his beverage. The older Von Schweetz's expression was blank for a couple of seconds as she kept her eyes on Vanellope in deep thought. Then, a half smile crept over her black lips as her eyes softened slightly.

"Well…," she started warily. "I don't know sis, I don't want to be the fifth wheel on your friend group's kart" She almost seemed timid but Ralph snorted, obviously not buying it.

"Don't be silly! The bigger the group the better! Right guys?" She whirled around to face her 'family' for support. Chocolette glanced at them with an innocent glint in her eyes while Vanellope did almost the same involuntarily.

"Oh great, now they're both doing the puppy-dog eyes thing together," Ralph chuckled in amusement, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried not to laugh even harder.

"I can't say no to those eyes, brother," Felix said looking at him with a shrugging smile. "What do you say, my dynamite gal?"

Calhoun remained silent as she kept looking at the pleading eyes of the Von Schweetz sisters. She rolled her eyes and snorted. "I'll keep my gun close, just in case," she said with a slight nod as she emptied her glass.

Vanellope jumped in cheer as Chocolette giggled in modest victory. "It's decided then! Sister, you shall come with us to tomorrow's game jump extravaganza!" Vanellope finished with a royal bow and a toothy grin.

"Game jump?" Chocolette asked them quizzically. "I thought that wasn't allowed."

"Well not exactly," Felix began slowly. "As long as you don't go _Turbo_, we can visit whichever game we want. Oh wait, I don't know if you know what _going Turbo_ means." He frowned apologetically.

"Ralph kinda explained it when he told his story today at the meeting, so please go on," she said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Felix smiled proudly at her, his good-guy demeanor taking over. "Great! Well last year, after what happened in _Sugar_ _Rush_, the Surge Protectors installed security cameras inside all games so they could monitor them at all times. There are even big flat screens at the top of each game port so everyone in the arcade can report any kind of abnormality if Surge is not looking for any reason." Felix signaled Tapper to bring a couple more root beers for them.

"I didn't notice them when we crossed Game Central Station," she said glancing at Ralph with a cocked eyebrow.

He finished his own glass with a long gulp, suppressing a burp with his hand; the wrecker smirked down at her and proceeded to answer her. "That's because they were turned off at that moment, and since they're black it's hard to spot them at first glance. They only get activated if the sensors perceive someone 'playing' or actively 'game jumping' into the game. It's not very common around here to game jump; we're mostly the only ones who do it. I actually have a hunch that Surge only installed them to keep an eye on us exclusively." He rolled his eyes, earning a light laugh from her. He also signaled Tapper to bring another glass for him.

"All right so, where are we going tomorrow?" Chocolette asked them with a glimmer of curiosity and excitement sparkling in her green eyes.

Ralph, Calhoun and Felix smiled down at Vanellope, who crossed her arms over her tiny chest with a smug expression. "Tomorrow's my turn to pick the game. We change turns every day so everybody is happy and all that yadayada that hammer-time here usually says. But I still haven't decided which one and since you're coming with us tomorrow, I'll plan it tonight before going to sleep." She flashed a mischievous grin, tapping her fingers together in an evil plotting kind of way.

Chocolette raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Sounds interesting," she simply said with an evil smirk as she finished her own drink. "Well, this has been lovely but I better get going. Who knows what kind of pranks my Sour Racers are using against dear Bonbon Lola by now."

"Aw I haven't met her yet," Vanellope asked her as her code tingled with the mention of her sister's majordomo. "Is she as gloomy as Sour Bill?"

Chocolette giggled at the idea of a dour Bonbon Lola. "I wish! Tobikomi only knows why the programmers gave the sour majordomo to you while I kept the sweetie-cheery one for myself. I'll see you tomorrow then, Fix-Its. Don't stay up all night, lil sister, and you," she said glancing up at Ralph with a smirk.

He mentally braced himself for whatever kind of flirt she was about to throw at him.

"Good night," she said softly as she started walking towards the game's exit.

Ralph stared wide eyed and followed her movements closely. He kept watching her leave until she reached the exit. Just when the shadow of a victorious smile started to be drawn on his lips, relishing in the hope that she had stopped her flirting game with him, the dark queen turned slightly over her shoulder and winked playfully at him knowing that he still had his eyes on her. Ralph grunted in annoyance as a blush appeared on his cheeks for like the 10th time that day and immediately turned over to his friends again.

-0-0-0-

Calhoun smiled knowingly at Ralph as she watched the wrecker's eyes follow the parting figure of the queen. "So Wreck-It, what do you have to report to us about your first date with miss hard candy?" she asked him teasingly, earning a glare from him.

"It wasn't a date, argh!" he fumed, supporting his chin with a massive hand. "Anyway, I think she did well at the meeting. Everyone seemed impressed with meeting another royal bad-guy, even Bowser."

Felix perked up at the mention of the Koopa King. "Bowser went to the meeting? How is he? I still haven't talked with Mario about the new update in NES Central."

Ralph's expression turned serious. "The old man has gotten HUGE! And he seems much stronger too, but at the same time he looked just more tired and worn out than usual. He even arrived really late! Barely making the last few minutes of the meeting. Apparently it had something to do with The Princesses Council. He didn't explain much but said it wasn't something serious."

"Do you know something about it, kid?" Calhoun asked Vanellope, remembering that even though she liked to be referred to as 'president', the littler racer still had royal duties that included taking part in the arcade's royal council.

She shrugged at them, uninterested. "Beats me! I'm the only princess in Game Central, so they don't summon me unless they have something to discuss with us specifically. And that has only happened twice. But seriously, they are such a pain in the bumper!" Vanellope sourly remembered when she met Princess Peach and the other five main princesses of the other central a month after her game's reset.

She was summoned the first time to be officially introduced to them, which resulted in a very boring and protocol gathering meeting, much to her own _joy_. The second time was when Princess Peach had ultimately forbidden the use of racing karts entirely outside their games, after Candlehead had accidentally crashed into Sonic a few months ago in the middle of Game Central Station. The blue hedgehog took full responsibility for the accident, as the good guy he was, but Princess Peach hadn't bought it one bit and so banned all racing vehicles after closing time. Since then, Vanellope had had a sour relationship with them.

"It's probably some exclusive issue of NES Central," the little racer waved off.

"Hopefully it is," Felix tapped his hat with confidence. "So, returning to the main subject, is the queen trustworthy enough, brother?"

Ralph straightened up on his stool and looked at them with his frown. "I don't know. I still feel like she's up to something fishy." He looked down in concern, but a smirk quickly appeared on his lips as he glanced at them again with a mischievous spark in his brown eyes.

"But I have a plan on how I'll get it out of her" he said with a chuckle as he gave a quick sip to his refilled drink.

The other three exchanged curious looks with each other.

"Enlighten us with your evil plan, Stinkbrain," Vanellope ordered him playfully, with excitement in her voice.

"It's very simple," he said, smirking. "I'll just have to play along with her little game and pretend to be… well… somehow… less 'good' I guess."

Felix and Vanellope gasped in surprise as Calhoun sniggered. "Oh I see… a double agent mission!" the sergeant sneered mockingly. "Once she believes you are just as 'bad' as she is, she'll trust you with whatever plan she is plotting."

"Oooooooh sneaky!" Vanellope chuckled evilly, rubbing her hands together in fun.

"Yeah, but I have to be very subtle. She already knows that I'm not that evil, so if I start to act too differently tomorrow she'll instantly suspect something's up and the plan will fail." Ralph closed his fist and looked at them smugly.

"Uh… I don't know brother… what if she ends up turning you truly evil instead?" Felix asked in concern, his good-guy gut tingling in alarm. "She seems to be… very persuasive." Felix wasn't sure if his antagonist would catch his drift.

"Pff, like that could ever happen!" Ralph said with a chuckle. "I have more years being a bad-guy than her, so I know what I'm doing and what to expect from her. She would have turned completely 'good' long before she'd have the chance to wrap me around her finger. Plus, if something goes wrong, I'm counting on you guys to stop the plan, right?"

"You can bet on it!" Calhoun said slamming the table with her glass.

"But Ralph, I don't think my sister is really bad!" Vanellope insisted with a sad pout, glancing gloomily at her tiny hands. "I think she just acts evilly because of her programming." She said with her eyes down.

Ralph sighed and lifted her chin with his index finger to make her look him in the eyes. "Look kid, I know you're programmed to care for her and stuff but we're just taking precautions here, okay? I'm doing this for your own safety. I can't take any risks after what happened with King Candy." He reassured her with a half smile, brushing her bangs gently out of her face. "I'll just keep a close eye on her while she gets the idea that what she does is just a job, I promise."

"Ok… I'll trust you with this mission, Major Body Odor," she giggled in contentment.

Calhoun raised her glass. "Cheers for the success of our 'evil plan'," she said with a toothy grin.

"Cheers," they all said as their glasses clashed with a sonorous _klang_.

-0-0-0-

The dark doors of Black Cola Castle closed slowly behind the queen, creaking until they were completely locked. The shadowed face of Chocolette lit up with a dark smile as she turned on her heels and began marching with resolution.

The white walls around her started to turn black as the black furniture and decorations switched to white with each determined step the queen took. She snickered evilly as she approached a pair of crystal white doors and opened them widely, revealing the spacious hall of the castle's throne room.

It was basically a long hall with tall, cola shaped pillars supporting the glamorous purple crystal ceiling that hovered above her; black hard candy chandeliers hung from it, providing illumination to the room. Several stained glass windows with various pictures of dragons adorned the lengthy black and white walls, the eyes of each dragon glowing green with each bolt of lightning.

There, in the middle of the room, she saw with a mocking smile her loyal Sour Racers, cheering and laughing at the top of their lungs as Warhead and Franknerd held Bonbon Lola miserably above a bubbling hot pit of melted green acid candy.

"Stay still Lola, we know what we're doing!" the green haired lad sniggered as Franknerd babbled something incoherent in apparent agreement, his face twitching between laughs.

"_No s'il vous plait_!" she stuttered, glancing in fear at the bubbling green liquid. "The queen would not approve of this!"

"It's not like you won't regenerate," cheered Zoet, the twin with the lightning bolt painted over her eye as she high-fived her sister.

"We just want to check how long it takes to die in there, Lola," Razz said with her arms crossed as she casually leaned against a wall. "You know, in case we capture any of those cavities like the queen ordered. We have to make sure the pit works properly, right guys?"

"Let the counting begin!" Rocko announced as he stood tall between Warhead and Franknerd as a referee. They started to swing Lola back and ford repeatedly.

"3...2..."

"No please!" Lola pleaded with teary eyes.

"...1!"

"Just what in Atari's name do you think you are doing?!" the queen barked with a booming voice from the doors, letting herself finally be noticed. The Sour Racers gasped in terror as they quickly stopped their prank in mid launch. Lola sighed in relief as she saw the silhouette of the dark queen upside down.

"Your grace!" Rocko blurted in fear as he stepped away from the two main pranksters.

"We-we just were kidding!" the twins defended in unison.

"We weren't really going to-"

"SILENCE!" she bellowed with a frown and they obeyed. She walked slowly, her face as impassive as steel, passing by them and ascending the steps that leaded to her throne. She sat in the big, black gothic styled throne, made of frozen dark cola and adorned with different carvings of dragons, looking at her subjects with a scowl. The Sour Racers immediately lined up at the bottom of the steps and kneeled respectfully to their queen.

Bonbon Lola dusted herself off with a frown as she cleared her throat and said, "All hail the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush: Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz... the Dark." A bit of sadness rang through at the end of her words.

"Long live the Queen!" the racers responded in fear.

A minute of complete silence followed, with the queen frowning deeply at them while they gulped in fear. "If I remember correctly, I ordered you all to guard the castle," she began through gritted teeth. "So imagine my surprise to find you all here fooling around and torturing Bonbon Lola instead of doing your jobs! I'm disappointed in all of you!"

All of them raised their heads with eyes wide in fear.

"Your majesty, please!"

"We were guarding, I swear!"

"We-we were just making sure the pit worked!"

"We guarded for a couple of hours but-"

"It's Warhead's fault! He convinced us to leave our positions!"

"WHAT?!"

"I'll crush him if you wish, your majesty!"

"Just wait a minute here! It was Razz's idea!"

"You son of a gumball!"

The queen quickly grew bored at their bickering, massaging her forehead in annoyance. "I'm surrounded by idiots," she groaned, earning a playful laugh from Lola who stood at her side.

"I… said… SILENCE!" she bellowed again, silencing the room. "I'll think about a proper punishment for all of you later. We need to discuss other more important things before the arcade opens."

Lola frowned in disapproval, while the Sour Racers looked relieved at the change of subject, and smirked darkly in approval as they rose to their feet.

"Has her highness finally come up with a plan to take over the kingdom?" Razz asked with an excited spark in her orange eyes.

Bonbon Lola looked at her queen with worry as the black and white haired sovereign smiled darkly at them. "Yes," she said softly and they all whistled and cheered wildly.

"Can we use the pretty weapons?" the twins asked in unison with a playfully dark snigger.

"I call the acid cannon!" Razz said smugly as Warhead glared daggers at her.

"That's my kart's special attack Razz!" he barked in her face. "Get your own cannon!"

"Make me!" she barked back, pushing their noses against each other.

"I'm cool with the big foot spike wheels," Rocko said, crossing his toned tattooed arms over his chest in pride.

The queen rolled her eyes as their barking started all over again. "QUIET ALL OF YOU! We won't need weapons for this plan." She rose from the throne with her hands planted firmly on her hips. Everyone whirled around to face the queen, just as Warhead and Razz were choking each other.

"I've come to the realization that in order for me to take the throne, we'll have to play... nice and quietly," she said as she descended the throne's steps, narrowing her eyes as she noticed the wave of disbelief that ran across the faces of her racers. "My sister has some powerful outside friends that will surely have no problem interfering if we dare to make a move against her."

"You mean that giant warthog and the mismatched couple the other day?" Razz asked with a mocking laugh. Chocolette glared at her with her green eyes glowing dangerously, scaring every single pixel out of all of them.

"DO NOT EVER speak of him like that again!" she threatened Razz through clenched teeth as she yanked her by her orange braid.

"So-sorry, your grace!" Razz barely managed to say with her eyes squeezed shut in pain.

Bonbon Lola cocked an eyebrow curiously at the queen's violent reaction to the dig at the wrecker.

Chocolette realized her overreaction and quickly let Razz go, clearing her throat with a light blush on her cheeks. Turning her back to them and crossing her arms behind her, she continued her explanation. "He is a key part of my plan... I learned today that my sister and therefore everyone in the kingdom consider him a hero after he saved them from a wacko who tried to take over my game and the arcade a year ago." She said solemnly.

"A hero?" Rocko asked as he stroked his beard in confusion. "But Lola told us when you left that he's a Bad-Guy!" the oldest of the evil racers said quizzically.

"I know, it's a long story but apparently not all bad-guys are truly evil," she said dismissively as her racers exchanged dumbfounded expressions. "He is very interested in making me and my sister have a nice, warmhearted sisterly bond… again." She glanced hesitantly at one of the stained glass windows, through which she saw the silhouette of Sugar Rush Castle.

A small hopeful smile appeared on Lola's face as the Sour Racers laughed in amusement.

"Yeah right, like that's possible!" Warhead said, brushing off a tear of laughter.

The queen frowned but said nothing to rebuff him. "Anyway, I just need to gain his and my sister's trust and I'll back on the throne in no time! Once the sugar citizens see their hero and 'president' hanging around with me harmlessly, they will believe in my 'innocence' and the kingdom will be mine again."

The Sour Racers wrinkled their faces in surprise. "Wait, like does that mean that we have to pretend to be 'good' with them?" Zuur, the twin with the broken heart painted over her eye asked in disgust.

"Just for a while, but yes, ALL OF US must do it," she said in threatening tone as the Sour Racers whined in complaint. "And don't any of you dare disobey me this time, or else I'll make sure you don't regenerate next time you get eliminated in a race!" the threat silenced any complaints immediately.

"Don't worry," she said in a soft and friendly tone. "I guarantee you'll be rewarded greatly and the sacrifice will be worth it." Dark smiles of acceptance met her promise.

She looked back at the castle and started chuckling darkly as her eyes glowed vibrantly green.

"And if my plan works perfectly... and if I make Ralph's heart mine… then I might even claim a king for myself as well," she said dreamily before laughing maniacally with her Sour Racers joining her.

Bonbon Lola frowned sadly, but a tiny spark of determination shown in her big pink eyes. She looked back at the throne and fixed her eyes where a large painting remained under a white cloth. "Sir Wreck-It… you are her only _chance_…," she said as thunder boomed in concert with the queen's laugh.

-0-0-0-

**A.N.: Plotting time! Who do you think will fall first? Make your bets!**

**Don't forget to leave a review and please check my gallery on my DA account (GND-KicaCris) and my Tumblr (KicaCris) for more art related to this story!**


	8. Game on!

**HEY-O EVERYBODY! You all thought this story was on hiatus, didn't ya? ;) Well it's not! The update got a bit delayed because… well short story: Phantom and I have been quite busy with real life issues so… sorry about that… BUT FEAR NOT dear readers! I haven't lost my muse yet, so there is A LOT of story to tell, I can guarantee you that!**

**In fact, I already know how the story is going to end! *Sniggers* The problem is how long it's gonna take to reach that end hehehehe. Oh this story is for the long run!**

**Anyways, here it is chapter 8! 8D ENJOY!**

**Original story by GND-KicaCris.**

**Revised and edited by The Phantom Soldier.**

**"Wreck-it Ralph" © Disney**

**Chapter 8: Game on!**

Rain poured down the windows of _Litwak's Family Fun Center_ the following afternoon. The old owner sighed in contemplation as he looked at the cloudy sky with a resigned frown; he had never liked rainy days at all, not because of the risks of having the usual power outages (he had learnt how to deal with them through the years by buying a tiny generator that maintained his consoles safe), but because those days always meant slow business days for the arcade since kids would usually stay in their homes instead of coming out. Of course he couldn't blame them, he would never want any of them to risk their well being just to come and play some silly games.

Turning over his shoulder he mentally counted the few visitors who had managed to come that day before the rain started. As usual, the largest concentration was focused around the Wii Console Modulator zone, as his newest and most modern addition, _Super Smash Bros. Brawl, _had pretty much captured the majority of the attention of his costumers the past three days. Glancing over the rest of the arcade he also counted three kids playing together on _Hero's Duty: World Expansion_, while a familiar pair of teenagers was apparently having a hard time on _Sugar Rush Speedway 2_. He reckoned around six more children scattered among the other cabinets as well.

His eyes then landed on a familiar figure sporting an oversized yellow rain slicker with hot pink rain boots playing _Fix-it Felix Jr. 2, _and a small warmhearted smile crept over his mouth once he recognized the child. It was the 'Moppet Girl', as he affectionately nicknamed her years ago, the only kid who despite the weather had still came to play her favorite video games. The kid was one of his favorite costumers, as she loved to play all the video games regardless of her gender and young age. He chuckled in amusement as he noticed the girl grunt in frustration after being again defeated by Litwak's favorite Bad-Guy. He then directed his eyes again to the weather and back at his wrist watch, wondering if it was best to close and send the kids home early that day.

Moppet Girl face palmed herself as she saw Felix 'death' stance blink at her repeatedly seconds before the infamous 'Game Over' title flashed mockingly at her. She sighed and glared daggers at the smugly non-pixelated face of Ralph, who was hanging effortlessly at the top the highest skyscraper of _Nicetown _very King Kong like. She then heard a light snigger behind her and noticed with a quizzical frown the familiar faces of her not so favorite teen duo who she still didn't know the names of.

"What so funny?" she asked them with a slightly annoyed tone as she adjusted her big glasses over her nose with her index finger.

"You still haven't been able to beat the game after two days. I thought you were good at the old version," the lankier teen sneered at her with a mocking smile.

She snorted at him and proceeded to search for another quarter in her pocket. "Well, it did get more difficult and besides I'm not interested in beating the game in a time record," she told them as she kept looking through her empty pockets.

"Have you guys had any luck with _Sugar Rush 2_?" she asked them with a smug grin, already knowing the answer since she had also noticed them play miserably that day too.

The teens quickly dropped their mocking expressions and furrowed their frowns at her. "Not yet!" the chubby and shorter one told her with a glare. "But we'll beat the game soon! Wanna know how?"

Moppet girl cocked an eyebrow quizzically at them as curiosity sparked in her eyes. They glanced around them as to make sure no one was looking, got closer to her and opened one of their dirty school back packs. The blond girl gasped as she noticed the lankier kid bring out what looked like a thick gaming magazine.

"With this," he told her as he handed her the magazine. She read through the many titles that were printed on the cover until her eyes focused on one in particular that flashily read 'Sugar Rush Speedway 2: Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz' locked race event!'.

She gaped at them with a scolding frown. "This is cheating!" she whispered at them in an accusatory tone.

The fat teen shushed her and gestured with his hands to keep her voice down. "Relax! There are no cheat codes in there! It only shows a walkthrough that teaches you how to unlock the final boss level."

"It's not our fault that the game got insanely difficult! Games are meant to be beaten anyways!" the taller one defended in equal whisper.

Moppet girl kept her frown. "It's still cheating! What's the fun of that?! You guys are telling me you can't handle a challenging game for once?!" She told them, arching an eyebrow in mockery.

They knit their eyebrows in a straight line in clear annoyance. "Shut it! Do you want to know how to beat Wreck-It Ralph or not?!" the skinnier one urged her to answer them as they heard Litwak approaching.

Her eyes grew wide as dinner plates and quickly shoved the magazine back to the teen. "NO!" She said in a normal tone of voice, scaring the teens and earning the attention of the old owner.

He frowned at the three. "What's the problem sweetheart? Are these ruffians bothering you?" he asked as he glanced at the problematic duo with his fist planted on his hips.

The three youngsters exchanged worried looks as Moppet Girl struggled with how to answer him. She decided to better not tell on them. "Uhm…no, everything is fine. They were just asking me if I wanted to play _Hero's Duty_ with them, that's all," she lied earning disbelieving looks from the teens.

Litwak dropped his frown and smiled widely with relief as he trusted the little girl's judgment. "Well that's nice and all, but I'm afraid I'm closing the arcade early today because of the weather so you kids will have to resume this tomorrow," he said as he patted the shoulder of the taller teen who smiled awkwardly at him.

"Come on everybody, pick up your jackets and things, it's closing time," Litwak said in a booming voice, earning complaining whines from the remaining customers.

Everybody started to slowly leave as Moppet Girl and the duo looked at each other, sighing in relief.

"Thanks," they both said in unison as they started to walk to the front door with her at their side.

"Shut up," she barked, still clearly mad at them.

-0-0-0-

"Quitting time!" Felix shouted after having regenerated, dusting himself off and stretching his blue suspenders tight in place. He then yelped in surprise as Ralph landed heavily by his side, cracking the floor upon impact.

The short handyman frowned at his antagonist. "Ralph! The floor just got fixed! Come on!" he complained as he brought out his golden hammer to tap the floor and fix it again. He quickly rose again to his feet and put his hammer back on his belt.

Ralph scratched the back of his head, looking at Felix apologetically. "Sorry brother, I guess I haven't gotten used to my new weight yet," he said with a sheepish smile.

Felix instantly dropped his frown and returned to his usual cheerful demeanor. "It's all right. Do you have any idea what game Vanellope would like to play today?" he asked him as both started to walk together towards the entrance.

"Knowing the kid, she'll probably pick a competitive one for sure," Ralph said with a chuckle as he and his protagonist arrived at their little train station. "She won't miss the chance to compete with her sister in something besides racing." Ralph hoped this would be the case as he and Felix hopped into their new but still old-fashioned looking little train and departed to Game Central Station.

-0-0-0-

"Do we REALLY have to stay in the castle AGAIN?" Warhead complained as he and the rest of the Sour Racers followed the queen as she marched towards the castle's entrance.

The dark queen wrapped her white scarf around her neck and fixed her ponytail as they walked. "I did say that you'll get punished for having disobeyed me yesterday, didn't I? You're lucky I didn't throw you in the acid candy pit and watch you regenerate until I get bored. So suck it up!" She barked at them in annoyance without even looking back at their disappointed eyes.

"But it's so boring in here! We'll die from boredom!" Zoet complained with her sister pouting and nodding in agreement.

Bonbon Lola rolled her eyes at the silly complaints as she kept walking by the queen's side.

Chocolette half smiled knowingly as an idea formed in her mind. "Oh don't worry, you'll be greatly entertained. Your mission for today will be to help dear Bonbon Lola to clean the entire castle." She chuckled as she noticed Bonbon Lola's eyes grow wide in fear.

"WHAT?!" They all said in unison.

"You gotta be kidding me! We're not maids!" Razz growled as she skipped a few steps ahead until she reached the queen's side. "Come on your highness! Give us another mission! Send us to paint graffiti all over Sugar Rush Castle or maybe we could go and sabotage the Sugar Racers' karts! Anything!" Her tone was pleading, trying to invoke whatever glimpse of mercy her queen could have.

"Your majesty… I honestly don't think it is really necessary for them to help me. I-I can take care of the castle by myself," Lola also tried to reason with her, agreeing for the first time with the orange Sour Racer.

"Nonsense dearie! My castle is just so big and you're so… so… short," she said with an awkward smile. "You'll thank me later, I know!" With an elegant wave of her hands, she signaled that the conversation was closed as they reached the grand black doors of the entrance.

Lola and Razz exchanged frowning looks and sighed in defeat.

"_Oui,_ your grace…"

"Fine!"

Chocolette smiled triumphantly as she glanced to all of them one last time before leaving. "Excellent! You'll have so much fun dearies! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with my-"

And just as she opened the doors, the queen's eyes suddenly grew wide as she found a familiar tiny figure waiting for her on the other side.

"Vanellope?!" She squealed in surprise, dropping her smile as she looked at the grinning face of her sister with an eyebrow arched in confusion.

Bonbon Lola and the racers gasped in astonishment behind her as they took notice of the princess's presence.

"Hey sis! Hello you guys! Nice game today, huh?" the princess-made-president skidded cheerfully as she greeted them with a toothy smile.

Chocolette glanced at each side suspiciously before returning her gaze back at her tiny frame. "Did you come alone," she asked her doubtfully.

"Well not exactly, General Nabisco insisted on escorting me here to keep me safe or something so he's waiting right there behind that lollipop tree," Vanellope told her with her eyebrows knit in annoyance while pointing at a remote lollipop tree a few miles away. The General saluted her with a slight tip of his tall cake hat, while signaling her with two fingers that he was watching closely.

The queen snorted mockingly as she saluted the general back sarcastically.

"You must be Lola," Vanellope chirped behind one of the legs of her older sister as she looked at the advisor with her big shining hazel eyes. "Nice to meet you! Wow, you're so pink and round. Just like Sour Bill!"

The female majordomo smiled brightly at her. Tiny tears formed in the corner of her pink eyes. "Prin-princess…_Oh mon dieu!... _You've grown so much…" she stuttered to say with her hands on her mouth as she was overwhelmed with sudden melancholy.

Vanellope arched an eyebrow at her in confusion, tilting her head slightly. "What do you mean," she asked her without noticing the flustered expression drawn on the queen's face.

"Oh don't mind her," the queen quickly whirled her around and started to lead her out of the castle with a firm hand on her back. "Let's get going lil sis! We don't want to keep the others waiting any longer. Don't cause any trouble while I'm gone guys! Bye!"

"Oh okay, bye guys! I'll see you later!" Vanellope waved cheerfully while Chocolette grabbed her by the hand and pulled her a bit stronger as she started walking faster.

The Sour Racers waved slowly and confusedly at the princess as she disappeared in the distance with their queen.

-0-0-0-

Calhoun tapped her armored boot as she waited for the rest of the group in the middle of Game Central Station with a bored frown. She kept checking her digital watch eagerly even though only 15 minutes had passed since the arcade had closed, but then she had never been known for being patient. She shifted a little and cracked her neck to relax a bit, feeling her still sore muscles after the day's gaming. Her ears quickly caught the familiar sound of her husband's unmistakable hopping sound. A half knowing smile crept across her lips as she whirled around to face him and his antagonist.

"Good evening my dynamite gal," Felix chirped with his cheeks glowing vibrantly as he hopped up and pecked her cheek as usual. "How was your day?"

Calhoun chuckled as she playfully pushed his cap down over his eyes. "Tiresome. We finally met the new final boss of our game and I got to admit… I haven't had so much fun since Wreck-It here unleashed that cy-bug nightmare in _Sugar_ _Rush_ last year." She said smugly as Felix and Ralph looked at her with worried eyes.

"Final boss," Ralph repeated with an eyebrow cocked. "What does it look like?"

Calhoun was about to elaborate when she noticed the Von Schweetz sisters walking side by side through Game Central Station towards them. "We'll save it for later-Yo chipmunk! Queenie! Over here!" Calhoun whistled shrilly to them, earning glares from some characters who were passing near them.

Vanellope instantly grinned widely as she hurried her steps a bit just to glitch and appear perched at Ralph's neck. "Good evening, Stinkbrain," she giggled, hugging his neck.

Ralph chuckled as he hugged her back with one big hand. "Evening, president fartfeathers! Arriving fashionably late?" he joked as he set her down on the floor again, raising his fist for her to fist bump back.

She did as he gestured and then put her hands inside her hood's front pockets. "Yep, that's the royal code after all," she giggled as she glanced at her older sister from the corner of her eyes.

"Don't I get I hug too, big guy," Chocolette pouted, crossing her arms under her ample bust. "I'm going to be jealous now."

Ralph blushed and arched an eyebrow, as he stood up tall again. "What happened to our deal with the pet names?" he asked, ignoring her fake, but still cute complaint.

Chocolette dropped her pouty expression and smiled smugly at him, "I did go to the meeting yesterday, didn't I? AND I also said that I'll be going to the next meeting so the deal is officially over, sweetie." She patted his shoulder playfully, earning a frown from him though he swiftly replaced it with a smile.

"It figures much, _sugar queen,_" he replied back coolly, crossing his arms too. Chocolette's eyes widened as her cheeks glowed slightly pink at Ralph's choice of pet name for her in such a confident manner. _'Is he flirting with me now?'_ she mentally questioned while raising a questioning brow at him.

Smiling knowingly, Felix cleared his throat to refocus the attention and Calhoun quickly stepped over into tonight's business. "Alright children, knock off the flirting competition! What's tonight's game plan, pipsqueak?" she said to Vanellope with her hands planted firmly on her hips.

Ralph and Chocolette dropped their smug expressions as both blinked questioningly at the younger Von Schweetz. Vanellope grinned wider, if that was even possible, looking mischievous.

"Ladies and gentlemen, for tonight's game jump destination, I've chosen…" she made a dramatic paused as she suddenly glitched behind both Fix-Its. They all turned around to look at Vanellope expectantly.

"Here," she said while opening her tiny arms widely, indicating a very familiar entrance port behind her.

Ralph, Felix and Calhoun gasped in shock while Chocolette read the game's title that was flashing above the port.

'_Hero's Duty: World Expansion'_

"Have you lost your mind, Vanellope?!" Ralph shouted at her in disbelief.

"Oh come on! Don't be such a diaper baby, it'll be fun!" She said as she jumped in excitement.

Felix fiddled with his fingers as he frowned in worry. "I-I don't think this is a good idea Vannie. Tammy did mention the cy-bugs were now much bigger and more dangerous than before," the handyman hero argued.

Now Chocolette frowned, intrigued. "What's this game's deal?" she asked out loud and the Core Four looked at her in surprise, remembering that she still wasn't completely informed about this game in particular.

"This is the game where I come from; It's a shooting game," Calhoun explained to her. "Short story: the planet got infested by these creatures called cy-bugs who act pretty much as viruses. They don't know they're in a game, all they know is eat, kill and multiply… quite fast and massively. They also become what they eat which is a pain in the behind especially if they eat a weapon. The whole point of the game is to kill them and obtain a medal at the top of a tall tower." She finished with a smirk as the queen looked quite impressed.

"Wow, okay that really sounds tough," Chocolette admitted as she glanced at the game's entrance again.

"These things turned Turbo into a giant mutated-virus-thing and almost destroyed _Sugar_ _Rush_ last year," Ralph told her with grudge and the queen raised both eyebrows at him.

"They can eat characters too?!" she exclaimed in shock as she looked at Calhoun questionably.

"Yeah and the character gets corrupted if they're from another game apparently," Tamora shrugged dismissively.

Chocolette frowned, averting her eyes to her young sister who still looked mischievous.

"It's not as bad as they say sis, trust me. Ralph did manage to win a medal here on his own after all and bad-guys aren't supposed to win medals," she said coyly with her hands in her hoodie's pockets again. "PLUS, I'm thinking we could do a friendly competition in here."

Her trick worked as both Calhoun and Chocolette cocked an eyebrow simultaneously, their competitive programs tingling. "How so sis," the dark queen asked with her eyes narrowed and a smirk drawn on her black lips.

Vanellope giggled and glitched to appear lying on Ralph's shoulder, supporting her face with her tiny hands while faking an innocent look. "Oh I don't know… uhmmm… how about 'Good-Guys vs. Bad-Guys'," she said softly while batting her eyelashes at Ralph in a mocking manner.

Ralph raised both eyebrows as he laughed heartily at the suggestion. "You're kidding right," he said, panting. "Your sister is such a comedian, Chocolette." He slightly nudged her as the queen chuckled with him. "That's such a bad idea, right guys?"

Just then a mischievous spark lit up Calhoun's eyes as an idea formed in her mind. She smirked devilishly as she also chuckled in amusement. "I think I have to agree with Wreck-It here, soldier. It really is a bad idea," she said as she faked a laugh, Felix looking up at her curiously.

'_That laugh… what are you planning this time, honey?' _Felix thought as he knew his wife's chuckles very well.

Tamora narrowed her eyes as she sniggered with her head raised. "Yeah, I mean, three good-guys against two bad-guys? It wouldn't be an honorable victory even for my liking." And with that statement she released her mind-blowing bomb.

Felix's eyes widened as Ralph and Chocolette's smiles dropped.

'_Oh no!' _The short handyman thought as he noticed both antagonists frown back at his wife in anger.

"Excuse me?" Ralph said incredulously, feeling his ego hurt.

Calhoun raised both eyebrows as she crossed her arms while leaning her hips to one side. "C'mon Wreck-It, you know you had luck when you snatched that medal the first time you game jumped in my game when nobody was looking. You don't really believe you two could have a chance competing against us, right?" she teased again, knowing very well the unspoken rule that said it was not wise to tamper with a bad-guy's pride, but she just knew she had to play dirty if she wanted them to agree with Vanellope's idea.

Ralph frowned deeply at her. He was very aware of the sergeant's plans but couldn't avoid the boiling sensation of his own anger rising. He remembered Clyde saying once to them that no matter how hard it seemed, they had to avoid letting their villains' programmed egos take control outside their games. He had to stay calm and focused.

"Sure you're strong and even more so now with that upgrade, and sure queenie here is a badass racer alright, but you guys are no fighters," she continued to rub salt into their wounded prides, much to Felix's distress.

Vanellope giggled as she noticed her sister uncross her arms while gritting her teeth. She and Ralph clenched their fists instinctively, glaring daggers at Calhoun.

"Really**, I don't think you'll be able to handle it**".

And so Sergeant Tamora Calhoun Fix-It threw her finishing knock out as both bad-guys' eyes widened in outrage.

"Tammy honey, I don't think-"

"You know what?" Felix suddenly heard his brother snarl threateningly at them. "Game on!" Ralph smirked uncharacteristically darkly at the Fix-Its and Vanellope, with Chocolette mimicking his expression too.

Vanellope jumped off Ralph's shoulder as she no longer couldn't take the competitive excitement hidden in her any longer. "Alright chumps, let's get this party started," she said as she marched proudly to the _Hero's Duty_ gate, fist bumping in the air without looking back one bit. Calhoun, Ralph and Chocolette followed her closely, exchanging snorts while a competitive glint shown in all of their eyes.

Felix sighed as he too followed them a little bit behind with resignation written on his face. He mentally hoped that Tamora truly knew what she was doing.

-0-0-0-

"This is such a stupid idea! How did I let myself get into this?! Argh!" Ralph growled in complaint as he adjusted his boots.

After Calhoun had given them a quick tour over their new head quarters, she had given them a couple new suits of armor to choose to wear for their competition. Calhoun had explained to them that in their new upgraded version, their armor and weapons automatically changed and adapted to their codes and avatar structures, so Ralph was quite pleased to finally be able to wear an armored suit in which he actually felt more comfortable to walk in. Especially since he now was much taller and build up than most of Calhoun's soldiers, meaning that he was no longer able to fit in any of their own armors. They split into their groups and changed in separate locker rooms, with the girls changing in a separate place for obvious reasons.

Already fully dressed, minus the helmet, Ralph took a good look at himself in the only mirror of the locker room. His suit was mostly black with tiny red lights adorning each plate of armor, with a tag on one of this broad shoulders that clearly read "Wreck-It". His armor was heavy looking, much like the old _Hero's_ _Duty_ male armor model, only that this time it looked more rounded on the edges thanks to the game's newly enhanced graphics, and there were also some neon red line lights outlining most of the pieces of the armor. As part of his personal customization, his armor sported large sized gauntlets for his wrecking hands that were equipped with special iron knuckles protectors which, according to the Sergeant, were strong enough to allow him to knock and wreck any metallic surface. It was all nice, yes, but truth be told, he was happy not to be wearing Markowski's armor again.

"Well look at you! And here I thought there was no way you could look any more handsome." Ralph yelped as he recognized the playful voice of Chocolette Von Schweetz entering the locker room.

He whirled around and gaped at the sight of her. She walked slowly towards him, her armored heeled boots clacking on the cold metallic floor of the room. She was fully dressed in her own female armor model, very similar to Calhoun's only that it seemed less heavy looking and much lighter in comparison, probably due to their different body structures since Calhoun was much more built up than Chocolette. Just like Ralph's, her suit and armor were both black with some red lights also decorating her most vulnerable body parts. The lines of neon red lights scandalously outlined her wide provocative curves, which Ralph couldn't avoid staring at now that they were more exposed under the tight expandex suit that she was wearing. He had to admit, she actually looked way more provocative in that armor than in her usual tight black racing suit… especially without the skirt.

He quickly shook his head, shoving away his _bad thoughts_ from his mind though his face's pixels refused to stop glowing red, as he heard her speak again.

Chocolette smirked knowingly as she put her helmet on a nearby silver chair and approached the mirror in which he was previously looking in to check out her own armor. "You look pretty badass in that armor. You should ask the Sarge to give it to you and wear it more often," she said as she brushed her black and white bangs from her forehead and proceed to readjust her crown and brush her tall curly ponytail locks with her fingers.

Ralph remained speechless as he bashfully stared at her back as she kept combing her hair. He couldn't help himself as his eyes wandered all over her curves until he caught eyes with her in her reflection. Her smirk widened as she turned around to look him in the face.

"Do you like what you see, Ralphie," she teased softly, though he did notice her cheeks blushing slightly.

Ralph growled, more to himself than to her, and quickly turned around as he looked for his helmet. Strangely, he suddenly felt hot and uncomfortable in his suit. Chocolette chuckled as she returned to brush her hair.

After finding his helmet inside the locker where his armor and suit had been stored, he timidly glanced back at her while still blushing. "Y-You… look good too," he admitted to her and now it was Chocolette's turn to blush brightly as her eyes widened in surprise without looking back at him. "A-are you sure that armor is… well… uhm, strong enough to protect you?" He stuttered, feeling for the first time in 30 years his programmed bad-guy instincts shamelessly pushing for him to look down her back but he kept his eyes glued on her long black and white hair.

Chocolette cleared her throat and forced her blush to disappear as a knowing smile appeared on her lips. She whirled around completely as she spoke. "My customization is much lighter because I'm supposed to be a faster runner I guess, though I don't know if I'll be able to do it in these heavy boots yet. My armor also came with these babies," she said as she opened her hands to reveal long neon red hologram claws on her gauntlets. "I don't know exactly what these will be useful for but I like them quite a lot. I might keep them if the Sergeant allows it." She said as she clenched her much tinier fist with excitement.

Just as Ralph was about to speak again, they both heard footsteps coming from the other side of the room and so they turned around to face one of Calhoun's soldiers. Ralph knit his eyebrows in a straight line as he recognized Markowski's face without his helmet.

He stopped a few inches away from them with a resigned sigh and an annoyed expression plastered on his frown. "Wreck-It, Von Schweetz…." He said as he checked out Chocolette's figure with a lecherous look and Ralph strangely felt a sudden boiling rage coming from his core, making him clench and dent the locker door that he was currently holding. "The sergeant is waiting for you in the command room. Follow me!" he ordered as he glanced at Ralph with disgust, turning around and walking back from where he came from without waiting for them to answer. Chocolette and Ralph exchanged frowns but said nothing. They picked up their helmets and followed him out of the room and through the long grey tunnel that led to the command room.

After walking for a few minutes they finally arrived at the center of the Head Quarters as two big metallic door opened to Markowski, revealing a huge green room filled with computers and soldiers running and speaking from one side to the other. There were a few men seated in chairs and talking to their ear mikes as they gave different commands and orders to what Ralph believed had to be soldiers making perimeter checks or something. There in the middle of that organized chaos, was the familiar tall figure of General Hologram, as the _Hero's_ _Duty_ soldiers liked to call him since he was programmed without name and was the one in charge of the whole game. Curiously enough he was indeed a hologram, as his entire body was translucent and glowing blue, but never the less he was still treated and respected as a real avatar and soldier as the rest of the characters inside the game.

He had his eyes glued on a big holographic image of the _Hero's_ _Duty_ planet, tiny green spots scattered all over its surface while three big glowing spots blinked in three different and separated zones of the globe. One of them glowed yellow while the other two were red and blue. His eyes scanned the whole structure as if he was looking for something in particular. Chocolette cocked an eyebrow as she looked at the general with curiosity, while Ralph stood tall at her side. Markowski made a military salute as he regarded the general. "Sir, Red Team is here, sir!" He shouted loudly and the general smiled as he turned to face them.

"Ah Wreck-It! Long time no see! Calhoun and Fix-It already explained to me about tonight's mission. A Good-Guys vs. Bad-Guys team competition in _Hero's_ _Duty_! I've to admit that we are all pretty excited about the outcome of this event." The general told them in a friendly tone as he kept his arms crossed behind his back.

"Speak of the devil, Blue Team has arrived too," the holographic soldier said as the head quarter's doors opened again with Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope entering in slow motion.

Ralph and Chocolette narrowed their eyes as they watched them approach to the center of the command room. The three were sporting matching black suits and armors, just like Ralph and Chocolette, with the only difference that their body lights shown neon blue instead of red. Felix had his golden hammer and a small customized golden gun hanging on his belt, while Vanellope had holographic blue roller blades as boots on her feet as part of her personal armor modification. Calhoun's new dark blue armor looked the same, though Ralph did notice her trademark backpack already on her back with probably all her favorite guns packed. She smirked at them before averting her eyes to the General to salute him properly.

"General," she said with the proper military greeting. The general saluted her back with the same gesture. "Blue team is ready for the action."

Vanellope skidded eagerly towards her sister and Ralph, and both instantly dropped their glares to smile warmly at the young president. "Sis! Ralph! Look at you! You look so cool! Wow I like your gauntlets!" Vanellope jumped in excitement as she looked at their armor in curiosity.

"You look good too, princess cavity. I like the roller blades," Chocolette told her as she ruffled her sister's dirty bangs playfully, earning a happy giggle from her younger sister. Ralph chuckled as he enjoyed the royal siblings' brief show of affection, his smile growing wide as he found the view endearing and heartwarming.

Felix approached them too as he left Calhoun talking with the general. "Wow brother hehehe, you actually look terrifying in that suit," the short hero bashfully complimented him. "Are you guys ready? I'm still wary about this idea."

"Relax my dear pint-sized husband. As long as you're on my team there is nothing to worry about," Tamora smirked as she patted Felix's shoulder lovingly, and Ralph and Chocolette's glares returned.

"Alright people listen up," General Hologram bellowed, silencing the room and focusing the attention on him. "We have a team battle competition tonight so I'm going to quickly explain the situation to all of you. The teams will be teleported to two different and separate zones of the planet, and you'll begin your search for the Tower from there. Each team will have its own command team, which will inform them of any incoming cy-bug attacks on their proximities; this way we'll keep our eyes on you in case of any emergency." He looked at Felix to assure him that everything was under control. The fixer nodded in acceptance, looking a bit less nervous.

"The competition will only last two hours; the mission is simple: first team to either kill more cy-bugs or obtain the Medal of Heroes at the top of the Tower will be the winner," he said with a chuckle before continuing. "**There will not be any direct combat between the teams.** I understand that the competitive spirits will be extremely high considering the natures of both teams, but let's keep the passions under control. Understood?" He cast a stern glance at Calhoun who rolled her eyes in response.

"One last thing before you go… we have just recently discovered a quite _unpleasant_ new addition to our game" the general said in a much more serious tone as he tapped a button of the console, making a blurred image of some sort of unknown creature appear where the image of the planet had been floating before. Both teams scrounged their eyes, not knowing what they were supposed to be looking at while Calhoun clearly glared at the thing.

"My apologies for the quality of the image but since we just met 'her' today briefly, we still haven't collected enough data related to 'her'. We call her: The Cy-bug Queen, and we believe this is the cy-bugs' leader and also mother. This creature is extremely dangerous and her whereabouts are still unknown to us. If by any chance you manage to encounter her, you must hide immediately and wait for further instructions but avoid engaging in any kind of fight with her at all cost. She is big enough to swallow Wreck-It entirely," the general finished in a lower tone making Ralph gulp in worry as Vanellope grasped at Chocolette's leg in slight fear.

Turning off the image again, General Hologram smiled broadly at them. "Since everything is clear now, what do you say we get down to business, shall we? Both teams go the teleport capsules!" he ordered and once again the whole room came alive as soldiers and technicians got prepared.

"Oh I almost forgot! Just a heads up, this game jumping event will be broadcast in Game Central Station as part of the Surge Protectors' security protocol. So stay pretty ladies!" he said as he winked at Calhoun, Chocolette and Vanellope who smiled sheepishly except for Tamora who just grunted in annoyance.

"Red Team's with Markwoski! Blue Team with Kohut! Prepare the coordinates for the teleportation!" the general shouted as both teams followed their respective assigned soldiers.

Ralph and Chocolette stopped in front of a large tube machine while Markowski tapped some buttons on the nearest console. "All right listen up, I'll be helping you guys in the red base. I cannot tell you where to go since that'll be cheating and stuff. I'll only warn you if there are cy-bugs incomings. The moment you step out of this tube, you'll have your own health bars activated; this way we'll be able to keep an eye on you and prevent you from having a game over if the situation gets out of hand." His tone held an 'I-don't really-care' quality to it.

Ralph rolled his eyes as Chocolette frowned at the soldier, not liking his attitude. "Geez thanks for the support pal," Ralph sarcastically said as Markowski turned to look at him with an annoyed frown.

"You'd feel the same way if you were in my place. I don't like to play for the losing team," he barked at them as he signaled them to enter to the tube.

They both entered reluctantly with deep frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Ralph growled at him in anger.

Markowski smirked as he threw them their backpacks with their equipped riffles and guns. "You're the bad-guys, which means the odds aren't in your favor," he said as he tapped a button and a blinding green light covered them before either of the two could say anything else.

-0-0-0-

**Hohohoho something very exciting is about to happen!**

**Chapter 9 is finished and is already getting edited by Phantom but you guys will have to wait a bit since it's really, REALLY long (31 pages long to be exactly) so please be patient with me.**

**The wait will be worth it, I swear!**

**And as usual, don't forget to visit my DA account (GND-KicaCris) and my Tumblr page (KicaCris) for new art related to this story. Also, I'm taking drawing requests related to "Sugar Queen" as drawing practice since my illustration finals are taking away most of my drawing energies and I need some WIR inspirational ideas to keep me from entering into the dreadful artist block of doom. So if you guys would like to see any specific scene or character (s), don't hesitate on asking me to draw it! I won't promise that I'll draw every single request, but I'll give my best into pleasing you.**

**Please don't forget to leave a review! Maybe that will helps us to get encouraged into updating faster ;) ;) ;)**


	9. A bad guy has to do-

**Original story by GND-KicaCris.**

**Revised and edited by The Phantom Soldier.**

**"Wreck-it Ralph" © Disney**

**Chapter 9: A Bad Guy has to do, what a bad guy has to do!**

"And then I told him, _'Listen Mario, I don't care how much she likes those damn flowers, it's not wise to have those things in the castle',_ but do you think she listened to my advice? Of course not! Some garden problem they have now!" Bowser laughed as he and Clyde strolled through Game Central Station, while chatting and joking about the newest misadventure of the Koopa King's nemesis.

Reaching the center of the station, they noticed a large crowd of game characters gathered at the entrance of _Hero's Duty_, looking up at the game's security flat screen. "I wonder what all the hubbubs about now?" The tall turtle dragon asked his old friend as he tried to focus his vision on the far away image on the screen.

"Looks like someone has game jumped into _Hero's Duty,_" Clyde shrugged monotonously.

"Bowser! Clyde!" They both heard their names shouted and noticed Zangief emerge from the crowd, running towards them with a frightened look carved into his rough fighter features. He stopped in front of them panting heavily. "Y-you have to come quick! Something incredible happening!"

Bowser and Clyde both cocked an eyebrow as both looked at their bad-guy comrade in confusion. "What's going on, Zangief?" The orange ghost of Pacman asked him with concern.

"It's Ralph and the Queen! They are fighting against the Fix-Its and the Candy President! Good-Guys versus Bad-Guys! In _Hero's_ _Duty_!" Zangief exclaimed worriedly at them and both old bad-guys gaped in shock.

"THEY'RE WHAT?!" Bowser hollered as he marched towards the crowd urgently, with Clyde and the Russian tailing quickly after him. The crowd instantly allowed them to cross as it was the natural reaction of fear towards a bad-guy coming. The three stopped inches away from the entrance where all of the Bad Anon members were also looking intensely at the screen while the rest of the 'neutral' and 'good' characters stood behind them.

The group quickly admitted the arrival or their leaders. "Bowser! Clyde! Did either of you know about this?" Dr. Robotnik asked them as a countdown started to flash on the screen with the tune of _Hero's Duty_ main theme getting louder.

Bowser frowned deeply while looking at the screen. "Is Surge informed of this?" He asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Yes I am," said the aforementioned blue man as he materialized next to him. Bowser looked down at him in surprise. "General Hologram has explained the situation to me. It's a friendly competition apparently and the _Hero's_ _Duty_ command team will constantly supervise them. Everything is under control." He assured them smugly while adjusting his glasses.

Clyde exchanged a worried frown with Bowser but no one said another thing. Just then, after the countdown finished, a female computer voice boomed out of the screen speakers.

_"Initiating _Hero'sDuty_ team battle mode. Introducing the Blue team: Sergeant Tamora Calhoun, Fix-It Felix Jr. and Princess Vanellope Von Schweetz"_

The voice announced as the image of the three appeared on the screen, sporting their armor while striking their trademark "hero stance". The crowd went wild as the majority cheered and applauded the blue team.

"They're gonna kick so much butt!"

"Come on, this is too easy!"

"I bet 10 golden coins to the good-guys!"

Collective laughs were heard and the bad-guys exchanged stern looks as they felt a sudden surge of support towards their comrades. Just then the screen turned red and the voice spoke again.

_"Representing the Red Team: Wreck-It Ralph and Dark Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz."_

The booming voice finished as both bad-guys appeared in full armor, smirking and striking their own stances. The crowd booed loudly with more laughs coming this time.

"I raise that bet! 100 golden coins to the good-guys!"

"Bad-Guys will never win!"

"This better be a joke!"

Surge rolled his eyes as he chuckled at the crowd's enthusiasm, silently agreeing with them with a mocking smile.

But then, a louder, much deeper voice broke through the laughs. "10,000 golden coins to the bad-guys!" Everyone went silent as all eyes looked to Bowser in shock. Clyde looked at his friend quizzically as a smirk appeared on the dragon's face as he eyed the crowd with confidence. Then the members of Bad Anon started to smirk too as their pride took over, and so they cheered for their friends' victory.

Surge looked at them in disapproval as Clyde whispered to Bowser. "Are you sure of what you're doing, my friend?" The orange ghost asked him, worried about the outcome of the competition since it was obvious that both Ralph and Chocolette had the clear disadvantage.

But Bowser's smile just widened as he kept his eyes on the screen. "I have a good hunch about this," he confessed as the screen was divided in two, showing each team's scores at 0 and the timer starting to run.

-0-0-0-

Ralph and Chocolette appeared in a vast deserted region of the _Hero's_ _Duty_ planet, fuming at Markowski's last remark before he teleported them without warning. They noticed their surroundings in confusion and Ralph grunted while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"What's that guy's deal?! ARGH! I want to turn him into a cockroach and smash him repeatedly with my heels until he is reduced into nothing but pixel dust!" Chocolette barked with her arms in the air, venting her accumulated anger finally.

Ralph chuckled at her infuriated state. "I guess he hasn't gotten over the fact that I left him locked in Tapper's Lost and Found room with nothing else but Zangief's dirty fighting trunks. What a cry baby!" The wrecker joked as he took a couple of deep breaths to calm down his own temper.

_'I heard that!' _They both suddenly heard Markowski's voice coming from their helmets. They exchanged quizzical looks before hearing him again.

_'Put on the damn helmets already!'_ he ordered them harshly and both bad-guys growled in annoyance.

Reluctantly, they picked up their helmets and put them on their heads; Chocolette adjusted her long ponytail inside of it just as Ralph closed his red visor, only to be greeted by a tiny image of Markowski's scarred face glaring angrily at him from the corner of the visor.

"Watch it Markowski, or you'll have more than a black eye once this is over!" Ralph threatened him, half-joking, half-serious, as he smirked at the frowning soldier.

Markowski rolled his eyes un-amused. "Whatever, would you just start walking already?! I'll be alerting you whenever the radar detects any cy-bugs in your proximiy. Good luck I guess…you'll need it!" He sniggered and his image disappeared again.

Ralph grunted as he opened his backpack to retrieve his weapon. Clicking a button on the side, he un-bended a large rifle-like bazooka that was as long as his arm and as thick as one of his fists. He marveled at it with wonder and then gasped as Calhoun's words struck him as hard as a pile of falling bricks: '_Bigger cy-bugs, bigger weapons'._

He looked over to Chocolette who was checking on her own rifle, which was considerably much smaller and lighter than his, almost as large as half of her arm. He frowned worryingly as he put his backpack on again.

"We should better get moving. Stay behind me and don't do anything stupid with that," he warned her and helped her with putting on her own backpack.

The queen frowned at him, slightly annoyed. "Don't tell me what to do! I can defend myself pretty well." She chuckled and Ralph snorted with a half smile as he tightened the straps firmly without hurting her.

"How hard can it be to shoot one silly bug anyways?"

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time 00:10:25

Current Score: Blue Team 1,800; Red Team 500)

"YOU JUST **HAD** TO SHOOT THEM FIRST, DIDN'T YOU?!" Chocolette shouted angrily as she and Ralph sprinted at through the rocky landscape, while a group of five elephant sized cy-bugs were chasing after them furiously.

"WHAT ELSE DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?!" Ralph barked back at her, slightly looking back to see the cy-bugs rapidly catching up. Why was Calhoun always right about everything?! Not only were the new cy-bugs much bigger and meaner, they now came in a vast variety of forms and insect types. These ones in particular looked like giant bees.

"Oh, I don't know, how about if you TRY TO NOT SHOOT THEM WHILE THEY ARE NOT ATTACKING US?!" Chocolette scolded and Ralph grunted, feeling more and more guilt with each hurried step.

He then spotted one giant green crystal boulder in the distance and he gasped with relief at its sight.

"THERE!" he signaled with his index finger and Chocolette quickly understood his signal. They both started to run faster, earning more distance from the creatures as they approached the large rock.

Chocolette quickly dashed behind it first and Ralph came after her immediately. He reloaded his riffle and fired five shots at the cy-bugs, killing three while the other two flew high to avoid the attack. Ralph shot again and was relieved to see the creatures escaping away, up into the sky and between the dark green clouds of the planet.

The wrecker panted in relief as he lowered his weapon. He looked down at the queen who had collapsed onto the ground, trying to catch her breath after having been running for 10 minutes straight. She was sweating and gripping tightly at her own rifle, which she kept pressed against her chest as if her life depended on it. His brow furrowed in concern and he kneeled down besides her.

"Are you ok? Did they hurt you?" he asked her softly, looking for any signs of damage to her armor.

Chocolette let her head rest against the cold rock as she looked at him with her eyes half closed, a reassuring smile forming on the corner of her lips. "I'm fine… don't worry. I'm just… catching my breath, y'know? Give me a minute." She spoke softly to him as she closed her eyes again with a frown.

Ralph let his massive form sit on the ground as he waited for her to recover her strength. He looked at the sky and frowned when he noticed their current score: Blue Team: 1800, Red Team: 500. He wrinkled his nose in annoyance, imagining both Calhoun and Vanellope mercilessly killing all the cy-bugs that were in their path. The Sergeant was probably leading them flawlessly as she was in her element and surely knew the direction the Tower was located in. He felt his pride burn, feeling helpless at their disadvantage.

"I don't understand why we have to shoot them, really. They weren't aware of our presence 'till you started firing at them!" he heard Chocolette complain and he quickly glanced at her in disbelief.

"Again with that? Why are you so sensitive about them, Chocolette?! We ARE supposed to kill them! That's the whole deal of this game, besides wining the medal at the top of that building." Ralph argued with her as he remembered her distraught reaction when he started firing at the big creatures 10 minutes ago. Sure enough, they weren't attacking them before he had started shooting; the big pack of cy-bugs was merely flying above them without paying much attention to the Bad-Guy team, but that was besides the point. Of course, he had regretted the impulsive action greatly, right after he had noticed their enormous size and how fast they were flying at them after he had killed half of them in a few shots.

Chocolette frowned with a pout and evaded his eyes. "I-I just…it doesn't feel right, ok?! They're this game's bad-guys! They are like us!" she suddenly admitted and Ralph's eyes went wide in realization.

"Chocolette listen to me," he started tenderly. "They are NOT like us, AT ALL!" Ralph scolded her, using one of his index fingers to lift her chin to make her look at him in the eyes. "You heard Calhoun; they're like viruses! They don't speak, think, or feel anything! They're just killing programs, ok? So don't feel pity for them." The wrecker chuckled in amusement, not believing the queen to be so caring of these mindless creatures just because they acted as the 'villains' of this game.

Chocolette's light green eyes widened slightly but then they softened as she looked away in stubborn embarrassment; she suddenly felt vulnerable and giddy. "I-I know but…I just have this nagging feeling that we shouldn't been killing them for some reason," she told him, frowning as her cheeks turned a rosy color.

Ralph cocked an eyebrow with a half knowing smile. _So, you're not as cold hearted as you brag to be, huh?_ He mentally sniggered, finding the queen's stubbornness bizarrely adorable. "Don't think too hard about it, _sugar queen_. Don't ya wanna win? We need to kill A LOT of them if we're planning on defeating the others," he told her as he stood up tall once again, offering a helping hand for her.

Chocolette looked at his hand and then back at him; her trademark smirk returning. "Or we could find that Tower and snatch that medal before them" she said as she grabbed his hand and let him rise her to her feet effortlessly.

"I don't want to be pessimist, but I highly doubt we'll find the Tower before Calhoun does. Our best chance to win is to kill more cy-bugs than them before the time runs out." Ralph admitted sourly.

Just then, Markowski's voice alerted them. _'Large Cy-bug swarm approaching from the west!'_

Chocolette frowned but nodded as she and Ralph reloaded their weapons. "Fine! Let's do this then."

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:00:05.

Current Score: Blue Team 110,300 ; Red Team 10,800)

"Argh! This is ridiculous! Calhoun's team has too much of an advantage over us!" Ralph complained furiously while opening his helmet to breath better. They were currently down in the score with 100,000 points of difference, and Chocolette had just lost her rifle making their numbers and current situation much worse.

Chocolette laid on the floor ground, breathing in and out rapidly with her eyebrows knit in rage. "We are never gonna win this!" she admitted drily. "I gotta be honest with you big guy, this hasn't been as fun as I expected." She kicked a rock in frustration.

If there was one thing that Chocolette couldn't stand it was losing a challenge. And they weren't only losing, they were being humiliated epically by none other than her sister and Ralph's good-guy friends.

"I hate to lose as much as you do Chocolette. Argh!" Ralph growled, smashing his helmet against the rock they were currently hiding behind, turning it into pixellated dust as his frustration started to overwhelm him.

Chocolette looked at him wide eyed, mesmerized by his current furious state. _'He looks hot when he's angry!'_ She mentally admitted with a soft tired chuckle. Turning her head towards the green sky of the _Hero's Duty_ planet, she let out a sigh she didn't know she had been holding back. "I'm not quitting Ralph," she said angrily.

"Like HELL we are!" The wrecker hissed in agreement.

Suddenly both heard the screeching sound of a small group of the infamous insects approaching. Slightly glancing over the rock without being discovered, Ralph noticed three cy-bugs of the round type just as tall as him, a few miles away from the other side of the giant rock they were currently hiding behind.

"Great, this is just great!" Ralph complained in a low voice; he took his rifle and tossed it to Chocolette. She barely caught it thanks to her racer reflexes, looking at the wrecker with a confused and surprised facial expression.

"What are you doing?!" She asked him as she saw him stand up at his full height while clenching his fits in wrecking form.

"I can destroy them with these," he explained to her as he held up his personal demolishing weapons to her. "But you can't, so you'll use the riffle to shoot them if they fly at me while I take them on at ground level." He glanced back at the cy-bugs who seemed to still be unaware of their hidden position.

Chocolette frowned at him in disapproval. "Have you lost your mind?! They're as big as you! I'm coming with you this time; you take the two from the left and I'll take the one on the right. Got it?" she said sternly with no hesitation as she stood up again, lifting Ralph's oversized rifle as if it was a cannon.

Ralph grunted in protest but decided to go with her plan as it was certainly better for him to physically take on two large cy-bugs instead of three. He looked up at his and Chocolette's health bars and noticed that both still had half of their bars full, with Chocolette's slightly lower than his.

His eyes shifted back at her. "Alright but be careful, okay? And try this time not to let them eat the rifle!" he joked and she rolled her eyes in annoyance.

They both narrowed their eyes, scrunched their shoulders and slightly bended their knees as they prepared to sprint. Ralph raised his palm with his five fingers stretched as he made a slow five-second count down.

5…4…3…2…1!

They both growled and snarled as they started running towards the cy-bugs. The creatures looked at them with surprise but didn't move; Chocolette reached them first as she was a faster runner, and just as she was planting both feet firmly to aim with the heavy rifle…she heard a surprising cracking sound under her.

Looking at her feet, she noticed with alarm that cracks were growing rapidly over the floor surface and her eyes widened in fear.

"RALPH!" She screamed as she felt the trembling footsteps of her partner increasing the number of cracks.

The wrecker halted at her sudden outburst, his fists poised above his head; he noticed the cy-bugs screeching in confusion as the cracks got louder and deeper under them. He glanced back at Chocolette and his eyes went wide as he saw her losing her balance as the ground became unstable.

"What the-?" he couldn't say more as the ground under them collapsed and Chocolette and the cy-bugs fell into the darkness.

"CHOCOLETTE!" He shouted in fright and without giving a second thought, he jumped down the dark hole at full speed.

"RALPH!" she screamed in fear as gravity pulled her down rapidly. She saw Ralph coming after her in mid air fall and tried desperately to reach for him with a stretched hand.

Everything happened so fast and yet she saw everything in slow motion, as Ralph quickly grabbed her by the hand and pulled her towards him, embracing her body tightly against his chest with his arms covering most of her, and then whirling his body over his back to protect them from the incoming impact.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:05:05.

Current Score: Blue Team 110,300; Red Team 10,800)

_TTTZZZZZZZKRACK!_

Markowski yanked his earpiece away as the loud booming electrical sound almost left him deaf. He whined in complaint while grabbing his head in pain, cursing under his breath.

He had been monitoring the Bad-Guys' team from _Hero's_ _Duty_ Red Base for about an hour, bored with the failing attempts of his assigned team into winning the challenge, when a strange interference came into his ears. The few marines and scientists that were with him in the base looked at him with confusion.

"What's the matter Markowski? Did Wreck-It mess it up again?" a dark skinned soldier chuckled beside him, earning a few laughs from the rest of the squad.

Markowski then looked at the spherical holographic radar that was floating above his console and his eyes went wide in alarm, standing up frantically. "CALL THE GENERAL!" he bellowed urgently

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:10:05.

Current Score: Blue Team 124,000 ; Red Team 10,800)

"Tamora?! Do you copy? Over!" Calhoun suddenly heard the familiar urgent voice of General Hologram through her helmet, and Felix and Vanellope turned over to look at her quizzically as it was usually Kohut that spoke to them.

"This is Calhoun speaking, Over!" she replied with a frown, lowering her gun slowly.

"Calhoun… Markowski just informed me that they've lost Red Team's signal, over!" the general informed them in concern, and the three heroes gasped in shock. "Fortunately their health bars seem to still be activated as you can see, over!" The three saw with relief that indeed their friends' health bars were still visible at the top of the sky, alongside Red Team's current score.

Tamora then shifted her eyes towards the Tower that was in their view and grunted in annoyance.

"Sarge! We have to look for my sister and Ralph! They could be in danger!" Vanellope pleaded with her big shining hazel eyes as the Sergeant struggled with her competitive nature.

"Tammy… please," her husband softly insisted too with a worried glint in his eyes. Oh how she hated how much power these two had over her.

"FINE! Send their last coordinates General, we'll look for them, over!" she barked in resignation.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:10:05.

Current Score: Blue Team 124,000; Red Team 10,800)

Chocolette's eyes flickered open as she tried to focus her vision, not recognizing her surroundings. She looked around and noticed deep darkness, with the only source of light coming directly above her head. She tried to stand up but felt something heavy pressed against her back, stopping her from raising herself.

Her vision finally focused and she soon realized that it were Ralph's arms preventing her from standing up, as they were clasped tightly over her body protectively with him lying under her.

He had used his strong back to cushion their fall.

Chocolette gasped in fear, her hands quickly reaching his face as she tried to shake him awake. "Ralph…Ralph! RALPH! Please open your eyes, please!" she urged him, her voice cracking and her eyes becoming glassy, fearing the worst.

She let a relieved breath escape as he started to shift slightly under her, grunting in pain. "…Chocolette?" he said hoarsely while trying to open his eyes.

He must have hurt his head, because when his vision finally focused what he saw almost knocked him out again. The Dark Queen Von Schweetz was lying on top of him, smiling down at him with relief as her glassy green eyes shown warmly and lovingly; the light coming from atop the ceiling outlined her head majestically, giving her an almost angelic aura.

Ralph stared silently at her eyes as he felt his own heart skip a bit; he had never seen such a beautiful smile ever on her, so sincere and lovely. It was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen in his life, feeling completely lost in her impossible beauty. He then took notice of her eyes brimming with concern and felt a sudden surge of instinctive protectiveness towards her.

"Ch-Chocolette are you okay? Are you hurt?" he asked her softly, his own voice cracking in worry.

The queen sighed without removing her hands from his face. "Y-yeah I'm okay, I think…not a single scratch or bruise…thanks to you," she replied softly as she very slowly stroked one of his cheeks with her thumb.

Ralph let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding back as he gripped his hand softly around her waist, feeling his body relax under her tenderness.

A whole minute passed without any of them saying another word, as both were lost in each others' eyes.

Chocolette was the first to break free from the trance as she spoke softly. "Ralph…as much as I enjoy this…I think… we should probably stand up and look for a way to get out of here," she told him as she outlined his jaw with her index finger playfully.

Ralph went wide-eyed as he realized the compromising position they were currently in, and his face turned deep red. "Ye-yes you-you're right!" he cleared his throat and proceeded to unglue his big hands from her waist and back.

The queen pulled away from him very slowly, slipping her form next to him. Ralph felt her warmth leave his body painfully and found himself strangely yearning for it. He raised himself into a sitting position, looking straight into her eyes again.

"How are you feeling? Does your back hurt?" she asked him softly, looking concerned, as she checked over his shoulders and back for any bruises or wounds, only to find nothing. She silently thanked Calhoun for having lent them the armor.

Ralph said nothing as he kept himself fixated on her; he then heard a mysterious ruffling sound coming behind him and he rose to his feet quickly, startling the queen.

"Chocolette…stay behind me," he ordered her softly, clenching his fist and gritting his teeth.

Chocolette glanced over to where he was currently growling at, and noticed millions of green spots glowing menacingly at them with a screeching sound starting to get louder by the second.

She stood up slowly and stayed close behind him, her eyes wandering in fear at the many cy-bugs that started to surround them dangerously. She heard Ralph growling deep from his chest as the enormous creatures came closer.

Just then, a loud, piercing screech echoed through the darkness, and the cy-bugs went silent.

Ralph and Chocolette went still as they sensed something really big approaching from the darkness.

"Chocolette, where is the hover board?!" Ralph urgently asked her, the cy-bugs dispersed to open a wide path towards the pair.

Chocolette trembled, grasping tightly at Ralph's back as she saw six pair of glowing green dots floating high above them, and approaching slowly. She stretched her arm over her back and found with horror that her backpack was gone just like his.

She stuttered to say the words, "Ralph…we lost the backpacks and…" she glanced around with her eyes wide as plates.

"I don't see your rifle or my helmet anywhere," she said as the creature came into the light.

Both bad guys held their breath at the sight of the monstrous cy-bug that was screeching at them. It had a really long body, half of it hidden in the darkness, resembling some sort of worm, with three pairs of claws in its upper blue greenish body and long sharp fangs coming from its mouth. Its head was big and prominent, sharper on the edges and adorned with random spikes all over its crown.

"It's the Cy-bug Queen!" Chocolette stuttered as the creature roared louder at them.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:20:00.

Current Score: Blue Team 160,580; Red Team 10,800)

Bowser furrowed his brow in worry while looking at the half of the screen that belonged to the Read Team, deep in contemplation with no image showing on it. Not a few seconds after the transmission got interrupted the Surge Protector had also disappeared to investigate the situation. The watching crowd had gone silent, barely whispering not very encouraging theories of what could have happened to them.

The members of Bad Anon didn't dare take their eyes from the screen, praying silently for their comrades to be safe and to return soon to the screen.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:30:24.

Current Score: Blue Team 130,580; Red Team 10,800)

"Jeepers! Where did all the cy-bugs go? It's oddly quiet," Felix commented, grasping his golden gun tightly.

Calhoun kept walking while glancing back and forth between the landscape and her wrist map, following the last signal sent by Ralph and Chocolette before they disappeared. Vanellope and Felix kept a close to her as they both looked around for any cy-bugs. Strangely, they hadn't seen one single bug since they started looking for their friends.

"It **is** really **quiet,**" Calhoun stressed, as she looked around with suspicion and noticed that even the familiar game tune was gone.

"I just hope Ralph and my sister are safe somewhere," Vanellope said softly with a worried frown, dashing softly in her roller blades.

Just then a bleeping sound echoed through the game, and the Blue Team looked up at the sky in shock.

"…No!…" Calhoun barely said as Vanellope and Felix gasped.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:34:59.

Current Score: Blue Team 130,580; Red Team 0)

The crowd gasped in unison too, as they saw the health bars of the Red Team disappear alongside their score. No one said another word as silence engulfed Game Central Station.

The bad-guys froze in horror, refusing to believe what they were seeing.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:36:05.

Current Score: Blue Team 130,580; Red Team 0)

"GENERAL?! DO YOU COPY ME?! ANSWER ME! OVER!" Tamora yelled for the third time through her helmet as Vanellope and Felix stood frozen in their spots, staring hopelessly at the empty score of Red Team.

Tears started to stream down Vanellope's cheeks as she entered state of shock, and Felix rushed to hug her around her shoulders, refusing to believe whatever this meant. Vanellope sobbed, as she struggled to ask what was screaming inside of her.

"Are they…are they...?" she started but Calhoun quickly cut her off.

"NO! Don't even dare say it!" she barked at her, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. "They're FINE! THEY MUST BE…!" She tried to reassure her but words failed coming out of her mouth. She took off her helmet and threw it to the ground in anger and frustration as a pang of guilt washed over her. "What was I thinking?!...this is all my fault." The tough Sergeant sobbed with her bangs covering her face.

Felix looked up at her with his own glassy eyes when suddenly, the mechanical female voice of _Hero's_ _Duty_ game computer boomed across the planet.

_'Warning! Boss Level Alert! Boss Level Alert!'_

The three heroes looked up to the sky in shock and Felix heard the General speak through his helmet.

"BLUE TEAM, STAND BY-!"

He heard him order as giant cy-bugs started to land heavily in front of them, screeching and snarling loudly.

Calhoun backed off slowly with Felix and Vanellope close behind her, as more cy-bugs from different sizes and types started to line in front of them. They seemed to be coming from everywhere! Vanellope yelped as she felt the ground shake furiously as new cy-bugs started to emerge from beneath the planet's crust, rising tall and fearsome.

The three raised their riffles at the creatures without firing, moving in circles with their backs pressed against each other, mesmerized by the incredible number which they figured to be in the hundreds.

There was no way of escape.

But for some reason the cy-bugs didn't attack them immediately; they just stood still around them, snarling and screeching in anger as if they were waiting for something to happen.

_'Warning! Boss Level Alert! Boss Level Alert!'_

The computer repeated again and a new automatic beeping sound echoed through the sky as the game's music got more hyped.

Blue Team looked up to the sky to see two larger green health bars appear and be filled fully, as two very familiar names shown above each one of them.

_'Wreck-It Ralph'_

_'Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz'_

"What the fun?!" Calhoun barked with an eyebrow cocked in puzzlement as they saw two figures engulfed in a thick green smoke fall from the sky and land atop a big crystal boulder that stood tall and high above the cy-bugs army and far away from Blue Team.

The smoke started to clear slowly as the moon of the planet illuminated the two forms atop the rock.

"Oh my land!" Felix managed to say as the three frowned in confusion at the view.

There, snickering darkly down at them and sporting strange new armor were Ralph and Chocolette, standing proud and fearless.

"Sis! Ralph!" Vanellope screamed in pure happiness as she looked at them with big eyes and was about to sprint towards them when Calhoun stopped her with a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Don't move a muscle, pipsqueak… Look at their armor," the Sergeant warned her through gritted teeth and Vanellope's grin dropped immediately.

Both Felix and Vanellope narrowed their eyes as they took in the new details their bad-guy friends had picked up.

Chocolette's black suit was scuffed in a few places, exposing her pale skin and some parts of her flat stomach, arms and long legs, as if some clawed animal had scratched her in a fight. Her armor was now purple and sharp on its edges, with random spikes sprouting from its surface while a couple of tiny light spots and light lines remained glowing red. Her gauntlets were bigger and deformed, with its original holographic claws now green and longer, and sharpened to a razor's edge. She also had a long green holographic scarf that sprung from her back, resembling the cy-bugs' wings, with cuts and holes on each of its two ends that flowed softly but sinisterly in the wind.

Ralph's armor had also changed into a cy-bug design, no longer black but copper colored instead, broken and scratched at random points, pointier in its edges with long aqua spikes sprouting from his back and shoulders. His gauntlets were vibrantly red and much more massive in size, with sharp silver spikes sprouting from each of his knuckles and thick sharp claws instead of fingers. His black suit was ripped on his arms, exposing his lean muscles slightly, and his body lights still glowed an angry red.

The wrecker was standing tall and proud, with his arms crossed over his massive chest, while the Queen leaned over one of his arms, with a hand planted on her wide hip and the other resting loosely over Ralph' shoulder. The green clouds of the sky dispersed, allowing the moonlight to shine over then fully, revealing their wide smug smirks and cy-bug facial markings.

"T-they got corrupted!" Felix exclaimed horrified with a hand covering his mouth.

Vanellope frowned sadly as she whispered her sister and the wrecker's names softly, refusing to believe what her eyes were looking at. Both wondered what to do, praying to the programmers that what their eyes were contemplating wasn't real. Calhoun growled in frustration but couldn't avoid the sensation that something seemed off, for both bad guys' body structures looked unaltered instead of the usual deformation that most corrupted characters suffered when being eaten and fused with a cy-bug. Her eyes went wide as a realization hit her suddenly.

"What are we going to do?! Is there some cure for the malware here?! Can you fix it with your hammer?!" The little president started to babble in concern while the handyman kept gaping in shock.

Calhoun grunted and aimed her riffle at Ralph and Chocolette, earning screeches of protest from the cy-bugs around them.

Felix yelped and frowned at his wife in outrage. "Tammy, please don't! They're our friends! They're only corrupt-", but before he could finish his scold, Calhoun cut him off with a knowing smirk.

"They're not corrupted, sweetie pie," she said softly between gritted teeth and both short heroes widened their eyes in confusion. "The sons of guns sided with the cy-bugs willingly!" She shouted at them with a chuckle.

"WHAT?!" Vanellope and Felix exclaimed in unison as Chocolette and Ralph sniggered knowingly.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:40:34.

Current Score: Blue Team 130,580; Red Team 0)

"ALRIGHT! NOW IS WHEN THE GAME TRULY STARTS!" Bowser roared with a wide grin as he and the members of Bad Anon cheered and whistled loudly at Ralph and Chocolette's epic return to the game. The _Hero's_ _Duty_ monitoring screen showed the two perspectives of the fight showing on each side of its divided screen, and the moment they heard Calhoun's last word, the many video game villains exploded with excitement and eager anticipation at their team's move.

The neutral and good characters gaped silently in confusion, as none expected the Red Team to turn the tables. The Surge Protector frowned deeply in annoyance as Zangief nudged him teasingly and Clyde couldn't help himself as he too smirked proudly.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:42:23.

Current Score: Blue Team 130,580; Red Team 0)

"What's the matter, Tamora? I thought you wanted some Good-Guys vs. Bad-Guys _friendly_ competition!" Ralph chuckled cockily as he looked down at Blue Team smugly.

Calhoun glared daggers at him, "You have 10 seconds to explain this or I swear to _Nintendo_ that Felix will have to collect every single remaining pixels of you, 'cause there won't be anything else left for him to fix!" she barked furiously at them with a vein pulsing on her forehead.

Both bad guys rolled their eyes with a snort. "Aw come on, Sarge! Didn't you want us to play our roles? Well here we are doing what we do best: not playing nice or by the rules!" Chocolette sniggered playfully with a waving move of her clawed hand that was lying on Ralph's shoulder, grinning darkly and enjoying the distressed and confused expressions on Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope faces.

"How about **you** defeat us first and **then** we explain things? I think there's a medal with our names engraved on it waiting for us to pick up, right _sugar queen_?" Ralph asked with a dark knowing smile as he glanced down at Chocolette, his eyes glowing red with excitement.

Chocolette let a girly giggle escape, not being able to hide her own enjoyment either. "May I have the honor?!" She asked him with a wild glint in her eyes and Ralph bowed gentlemanly to her, as if he wouldn't have it any other way. Her eyes glowed green as she raised the hand that had been on her hip high above her head. "WELCOME TO THE BOSS LEVEL! Hahahahahaha!" She laughed maniacally and with a snap of her fingers, the many cy-bugs that surrounded Blue Team screeched and roared, launching themselves at the good-guys in a mass attack.

-0-0-0-

**Dun, dun, duuuuuuuuun! Bad guys have gone BAD! XD Get ready for some excitement in the next chapter! **

**Again, don't forget to visit my DA account (GND-KicaCris) and my Tumblr page (KicaCris) for new art related to this story. Also, I'm taking drawing requests related to "Sugar Queen" as drawing practice since my illustration finals are taking away most of my drawing energies and I need some WIR inspirational ideas to keep me from entering into the dreadful artist block of doom. So if you guys would like to see any specific scene or character (s), don't hesitate on asking me to draw it! I won't promise that I'll draw every single request, but I'll give my best into pleasing you.**

**Please don't forget to leave a review! Maybe that will helps us to get encouraged into updating faster ;) ;) ;)**


	10. And the winner is

**Original story by GND-KicaCris.**

**Revised and edited by The Phantom Soldier.**

**"Wreck-it Ralph" © Disney**

**Chapter10: And the winner is…**

Calhoun's eyes went wide at the incoming swarm of cy-bugs. She quickly set her rifle to automatic mode and started to fire non-stop, killing every single creature that came towards her. Vanellope and Felix followed suit and started to shoot at the cy-bugs too, while still looking confused and scared.

One by one, the cy-bugs disintegrated as they kept shooting at them flawlessly without missing a single shot. Calhoun had to help her husband and Vanellope several times as she was more skilled in these kinds of situations than them, spinning around and firing without really aiming.

Suddenly, a light green mist settled around them, partially obscuring the cy-bugs, only allowing their glowing green eyes to be seen. Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope stood close to each other, with their backs turned and their guns aiming blindly at the many green glowing spots that seemed to float around them, moving slowly in circle as they waited for the cy-bugs to come at them again. The _Hero's_ _Duty_ protagonist growled in annoyance as she swore she heard the creatures screech in a laughing manner. Silence overwhelmed them, with no sign of movement whatsoever, making their heart beats raise rapidly. Felix started to slightly shake, his golden rifle trembling in his firm grasp while he desperately glanced around him with his eyebrows raised in fear. Vanellope breathed in and out rapidly as she too grasped at her tiny candy rifle with both hands, frowning defiantly as she tried to focus her ears and vision into detecting any kind of sound or movement. Tamora stood upright without lowering her rifle for an instant; she no longer saw the glowing eyes anymore through the thick mist.

"What the-?" she started but got interrupted just as a thunderous zapping sound alerted her again, followed by a scream.

"Aaaaah!" she heard and whirling around she saw the little candy president trapped and tied tightly by some sort of glowing fluorescent whip, and in a blink of an eye, it yanked her into the thick mist.

"VANELLOPE!" The handyman and the soldier screamed in fright and the wind started to whirl around the pair rapidly, dispersing the mist. They covered their eyes with their arms hopelessly as dust and tiny rocks floated around them in circular motion, blinding their vision.

When the wind finally stopped, and the dust and rocks fell down again, they opened their eyes to see Chocolette and Ralph on top of a large flying-mantis-like cy-bug, smirking at them with Vanellope trapped under Chocolette's arm.

"See ya on the Tower, losers!" Ralph said with a military salute and they flew rapidly high into the sky, glitching in purple a few times as they sped up, with the cy-bug army tailing after them.

Felix and Calhoun blinked silently as they both stood still with their brains slowly moving in comprehension.

Felix looked at his wife, smiling sheepishly at her with realization. "Did-did they just…did they just pull a…'kidnap the princess' move?" he asked her in amusement and disbelief, and his wife growled loudly in annoyance, detaching her hover board in one swift move.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:45:01.

Current Score: Blue Team 200,100; Red Team 0)

"Markowski! What in the name of everything that is sacred and holy was THAT?!" General Hologram bellowed to the soldier severely, a vein visibly pulsing in his neck while he was glaring daggers at the soldier.

The command room was in a complete ruckus, soldiers and scientists running from one side to another alerting all the marines' forces about the Boss Alert Code and preparing their weapons to control the situation. Markowski gulped, trying to force his brain to form an answer but nothing came to his mind.

"I-I don't know general!" His voice cracked with confusion. "They were fine before we lost their signal I swear! This has never happened before! We don't have protocols for this!" he defended, earning a deeper frown from the general.

Suddenly, the walls and floor trembled and everyone stumbled in shock. The General looked around in alarm, supporting himself against the planet's map console while the pounding tremor shook the facilities again, getting louder and stronger with each passing second.

"What the-?!"

And then one of the walls exploded sonorously, pieces of metal and concrete flying and ricocheting everywhere; the soldiers covered their eyes while the scientists ducked under the desks and consoles for shelter. The intruders alarm went off, and the lights dimmed red, indicating that something or someone had penetrated the base. General Hologram uncovered his eyes and very slowly the smoke coming from the destroyed wall started to clear. His eyes widened in shock as he saw none other than Ralph and Chocolette smirking at them with a couple of cy-bugs in tow.

The wrecker shook his fist nonchalantly; pieces of metal and dirt falling from it, and proceeded to lumber inside. "Good evening general. Sorry about the wall but no one answered the front door," he joked smugly. "I'll ask Felix to fix it for you later." He chuckled, his smirk never faltering.

The general frowned, not amused at all and in the blink of an eye every single soldier aimed their weapons at the duo.

"Tut, tut, tut, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Chocolette waved a clawed finger and with snap of her fingers, a smaller cy-bug rose up with Vanellope trapped in its six claws, her mouth covered and an annoyed frown plastered in her eyes. The soldiers gasped in unison. "I don't think you'll risk having a _princess_ game over in your game now, would you?" She warned them with a playful snigger.

General Hologram raised his frown for a second but quickly grimaced again. "You wouldn't dare!" He barked seriously but Chocolette never dropped her smoldering smile.

"Wouldn't I?" The Queen batted her eyelashes teasingly to the General, playing with his mind.

The general stood still, glancing back and ford at both bad guys in silence and the little princess, debating what to do; he glanced at the many cy-bugs behind the three, who remained immobile and expectant; a few sweat drops rolled down his face as he finally made his decision and very slowly raised both hands in surrender.

"Hold your fire and lower your weapons, NOW!" He ordered and the marines slowly and with uncertainty did as ordered; the General didn't say another word.

Ralph snorted. "Thank you! I promise this will be quick." he sang in a friendly manner.

Chocolette started walking inside, swinging her hips while passing the frowning general and stopping in front of the console of the global map. She looked up at it in deep thought and soon her eyes widened when she noticed a yellow spot. She turned her head to look at Ralph.

"Told ya I saw it here!" she told him with a smirk, whistling softly. "Come here baby!" She called out loud and from behind Vanellope a tiny round baby cy-bug chirped happily, flying towards the queen and landing on her shoulder. The baby snuggled against her cheek lovingly, making her giggle.

"Alright cutie, mama needs you to do this quick so we can leave these meanie soldiers alone, okay? Go!" she ordered him with a loving tap on his head and the cy-bug nodded happily with a cute screech. He flew up high until he was in front of the pulsing yellow spot; his green round eyes shown brightly and with two gridded flat rays, he scanned the zone the spot signaled. A few seconds later, the rays disappeared and he flew down again to the Queen's face, screeching two times and making a cute military salute to her.

Chocolette nodded and turned on her heels to face Ralph again with the baby cy-bug back on her shoulder. "We got the coordinates," she said darkly to him with her eyes narrowed and he nodded with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

He then noticed a fast moving blue spot coming closer to where the name of the command base pulsed, and frowned a little, but maintained his smirk. "Calhoun and Felix will be here any minute," he mentioned and Chocolette glanced with a fastidious pout over the global map.

She looked at the General with a knowing smile and approached him slowly. The general arched an eyebrow as the queen fidgeted with his uniform's tie. "So general," she began, tugging a bit at the tie. "What's the fastest vehicle you have?" A dark, wild and wide grin spread across her lovely face.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:50:56.

Current Score: Blue Team 250,800; Red Team 0)

Felix fired repeatedly at the flying cy-bugs as Calhoun sped towards the command central of _Hero's Duty_. After Ralph and the Queen had disappeared, she quickly figured out that the bad-guys were heading towards the command room to retrieve the location of the game's Tower. Felix had argued with her insisting that they should've headed directly to the tower instead to end the game once and for all, but the stubborn sergeant refused to listen to him as her anger had blurred any logical thinking from her mind. She gritted her teeth in excitement just as the short building of the under ground base came into her view a few miles from them.

"The base!" Felix chirped as another cy-bug fell after being shot by his golden gun. "We're almost there!" He pointed with an armored hand and a broad smile, earning an approving snort from his wife.

But just as they reached the place, they saw one of the glass windows explode, and Ralph and Chocolette burst out on a colossal cy-bug turned into some sort of black three wheeled motor bike, with the queen driving and Ralph sitting back behind her with Vanellope grasped under one of his arms. They sped away in a roaring burst of acceleration with three big butterfly type cy-bugs tailing after them at equal speed.

"Oh my land!" Felix said dumbfounded as the team escaped on the mutated vehicle in the direction of the Tower.

Calhoun knit her eyebrows in an unimpressed line. She had officially seen everything now. "I'm so gonna kill those two," she said monotonously, pressing down the hover board's accelerator and turning to follow them.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:53:00.

Current Score: Blue Team 310,100; Red Team 0)

"Have you two gone MAD?!" Vanellope yelled, wriggling under Ralph's right arm in annoyance with her dirty hair flying wildly against the strong wind as her sister kept driving fast across the planet's rocky landscape.

Ralph chuckled, his left hand wrapped tightly around the queen's waist to support himself. "Chill out kid! This was your idea originally, remember?" he grinned down at her as the cy-bug bike jumped a few times over the rocks.

Vanellope pouted angrily with puffy cheeks. "Yeah well, but you didn't have to be so LITERAL!" she barked back at him.

Chocolette sniggered. "You're just angry because we kidnapped you _a la old school style_, aren't ya?" she mocked without tearing her eyes off the road; she could see the Tower rising up on the horizon.

"OF COURSE I AM YOU JERKS!" she complained with blushing cheeks, her pride feeling incredibly hurt.

Both villains rolled their eyes in amusement, but their fun was rudely interrupted as one of the three cy-bugs that were following them fell in agony and disintegrated. Ralph turned around quizzically, his eyes locking onto the figures of the Fix-Its quickly catching up with them.

He smiled defiantly. "…Chocolette" he warned her and the queen glanced at the Blue Team through the bike's mirrors. She whistled loudly two times and the two remaining cy-bugs screeched in response and flew back towards the good guys.

Vanellope's hazel eyes widened as she saw the creatures slow down the Sergeant and the handyman. "Why? How? How do you -?" the little president questioned, looking up at Ralph and then to her sister's reflection in the mirror but neither of them answered her.

A few laser bolts brushed dangerously close at them, surprising the bad-guys and making the queen quickly maneuver side ways to avoid being hit. They both turned over with matching angry glares, and saw Calhoun openly snicker with her gun aimed at them while Felix kept grasping at her leg, smiling sheepishly with an apologetic smile aimed at the villains.

Ralph and Chocolette heard the unmistakable sound of their health bars getting lowered slightly and both growled through clenched teeth. "HEY!" Ralph snarled, covering Vanellope a bit more to protect her. "WATCH IT, WOULD YA!?"

Calhoun sniggered, stopping her fire without lowering her gun one inch. "Quit it you two! There are only eight minutes remaining and I won't let you climb that Tower."

"…Tammy…" Felix softly protested in an awkward smile as he saw with anxiety both bad-guys frowns deepen.

"So, she wants to play rough, huh?" Ralph said in between his teeth. He turned around and noticed a tall mountain trench formation ahead, and an idea popped into his head.

"Chocolette, go through that rocky trench! I have a plan", he spoke into the dark queen's ear, unconsciously nudging her with a rubbing thumb on her exposed stomach, which made her pixels blush profusely.

Vanellope cocked an eyebrow as she saw her sister shake her head furiously to compose herself, a wide knowing grin plastered on the facial features of the queen. "As you wish, big guy," she said flirtatiously, whirling the steering wheel towards where the wrecker had signaled her to go.

Calhoun raised a quizzical eyebrow but wasted no time in going after them, pressing down the accelerator to speed up.

The two teams entered the trench at full speed and Ralph smirked mischievously at his plan. He looked down at Vanellope to warn her. "Hang on tight Van, okay?" he told her and the little president did as told, grasping firmly onto his arm. "Chocolette, kept the bike moving straight and get closer to the wall!" he said and very slowly he let go of her waist, struggling with his balance a bit.

The queen nodded and very carefully she brought their vehicle closer to the rocky wall flawlessly without making any sudden movement. Ralph raised his free fist, clenching it in its wrecking form, a smirk curling around the corner of his lips.

Felix's eyes went wide in awareness, as he recognized his brother's movement. "TAMMY LOOK OUT!" he screamed at her but it was too late as Ralph pounded the wall with all of his mighty power, cracking the wall with a thunderous tremor and initiating a sudden avalanche.

Calhoun yelped as rocks and earth started to fall uncontrollably, slowing them considerably as she maneuvered the hover board to dodge the debris. More and more large rocks fell rapidly and Tamora feared that she wouldn't be able to dodge fast enough when suddenly Felix jumped on her back, his golden hammer in hand.

"Felix! What are you-?"

"Keep dodging!" he bellowed to her bravely with his brow furrowed as a giant crystal rock came closer. He waited as it inched closer with each passing second, tiny drops of sweat rolling down his forehead as he braced himself. Just a second before the big rock hit them, he tapered it with his hammer in a shift move, and after a bleeping noise the boulder disappeared in a golden flash.

Calhoun's eye went big as plates, not believing her own eyes; her broad smile returned as her husband sat on her shoulders, throwing away his helmet and putting on his cap again. "Let's go, my dynamite girl!" he said with his hammer raised proudly and that familiar brave smile that always made her heart skip a beat.

She grinned with renewed excitement, reloaded her rifle and propelled the hover board forward at full speed.

-0-0-0-

With Ralph's hand wrapped around her waist again, Chocolette sped up as the avalanche kept falling after them. They both smiled in anticipated victory as the tall sharp Tower of _Hero's_ _Duty_ came into view at the end of the trench.

"We are almost there!" Chocolette cheered and Vanellope had to peek again out of Ralph's arm to see better.

But then, booming gunshots echoed close behind them and the three gasped in shock as they glanced back to see the Fix-Its at their tails again, with Calhoun firing non-stop and Felix on her shoulders hammering and vanishing the fallen debris that threatened their path.

Ralph bowed his head lower as a laser shot almost left him bald. "Dammit Fix-It!" he grumbled in annoyance, forgetting completely that his protagonist had brought his trademark golden tool with him to the game.

The queen frowned deeply, her patience running out. "That's it! I'm done playing nice!" she snarled and lifting her left hand she stretched out her holographic claws dangerously. She glanced back a Ralph who looked at her quizzically. "Hang on tight." she ordered him with a smirk.

She turned around and after taking a deep breath, she glitched them through a hot mess of purple pixels and re-appeared next to the Fix-Its. Blue Team gasped in surprise and in a swift movement, Chocolette swiped her claws against Calhoun's hover board's thrust unit, damaging it severely. Both Calhoun and Felix struggled with their balance as the board started to shake and descend slowly and un-responding, with smoke and electrical sparks coming out of the damaged engine.

Calhoun growled in frustration as she locked eyes with the dark queen who winked at her before glitching one more time.

But just as they reappeared at the exit of the rocky trench, entering the final stretch of the long metallic bridge that lead to the _Hero's_ _Duty_ Tower… the cy-bug motorbike suddenly trembled furiously with a sonorous blast coming from its rear; Chocolette and Ralph whirled around in confusion and saw the end of their vehicle and back wheels completely destroyed.

They both glanced back at the Fix-Its and saw Calhoun salute them with her gun before falling down with Felix in a thick cloud of dust.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:55:00.

Current Score: Blue Team 410,250; Red Team 0)

Chocolette stopped the bike carefully as the vehicle started to disintegrate in millions of grey and green pixels, jumping out of it before it completely vanished. They both looked up at the game's remaining time with frantic eyes.

"C'mon! We gotta run now!" Ralph urged with Vanellope still safe under his arm and both started to sprint rapidly across the bridge, reaching the base of the tower in a few seconds.

Chocolette looked up at the top with a frown "Ralph…we're never going to make it on time!" she said in between pants but was again surprised by Ralph's words.

"Yes we will! Here!" he said handing Vanellope to her carefully. Both sisters exchanged confused eyes as Chocolette carried the princess made president in her arms.

He then kneeled down in front of the queen, his back facing her. "Hop on my back" he hurried and Vanellope's eyes widened in recognition. The queen blushed but nodded with a decisive brow, grabbing Vanellope ungracefully under one arm, as if she was a sack of potatoes, and wrapping her other arm and legs around Ralph's neck and waist. They both reddened at the awkward contact of their bodies but shrugged it off as Ralph bent his knees and with a deep breath, jumped up high and fast towards the top.

When gravity finally slowed him down just as he reached the first quarter of the building, he stretched both arms and buried his clawed fingers deep into the cold metallic surface of the tower, supporting himself effortlessly. The Von Schweetz sisters opened their eyes and looked down at the distant ground, mesmerized by Ralph's powerful strength and endurance.

"That…was…so…COOL!" Vanellope cheered with both arms in the air as Chocolette kept her secured under her grasp. "Do it again! Do it again!"

Ralph glanced at her and then at the Queen with a cocky and handsome smile. "Piece of cake," he told her as he braced himself to jump up again.

-0-0-0-

(Gameplay time: 01:56:33.

Current Score: Blue Team 410,250; Red Team 0)

Calhoun and Felix arrived at the tower a minute later, both looking up in distress as Ralph jumped again and reached the second quarter of the Tower rapidly. The Sergeant unpacked and loaded her two last large rifles, tossing her back pack aside and blowing her bangs from her face. "C'mon, I know a short cut to the top," she told Felix with a smirk.

He nodded and followed right behind her as they both crossed the main entrance of the Tower.

(Gameplay time: 01:58:01.

Current Score: Blue Team 410,250; Red Team 0)

Ralph raised himself up, finally reaching the top of the Tower. Resting his hands on his knees, he tried to recover his breath while Chocolette stepped down from his back with Vanellope in her arm. "You okay, Stinkbrain?" The little racer asked him in concern; the queen patted his back and the wrecker looked at the young Von Schweetz with a half satisfied smile.

The familiar sound of a gun being cocked startled them; Ralph and Chocolette slowly looked in front of them and saw none other than Sergeant Tarmora Calhoun, aiming two guns at them with Fix-It Felix standing behind her with his golden hammer in hand. Both looked tired and their blue armored suits were completely tattered. They were surrounded by millions of cy-bug eggs and the famous golden medal floated right behind the pair, at the top of the illuminated pedestal.

The shock on their faces quickly disappeared, replaced with burning glares and gritted teeth. Ralph blew hot air through his nose in annoyance, straightening up to his full height with his fists clenched. "How did you get here so fast?" he asked very slowly without lessening his angry frown.

Calhoun smirked, her fingers brushing dangerously close to the triggers. "This is my game, Wreck-It. I do know one or two short cuts," she sniggered, earning a defiant growl from the bad-guy pair.

"Guys…aren't you taking this too seriously?" Vanellope questioned, her eyes glancing back and forth to Calhoun, her sister and Ralph as the three held their stares.

But the Sergeant didn't hear her. "It's game over," she said barely loud enough with the final minute starting to run.

"Get that medal, honey!" she ordered her husband with a wide smile and the short handy man darted towards the pedestal without even looking back.

(60 seconds)

Ralph and Chocolette gasped in unison. "NO!"

(55 seconds)

Felix kept running up the blue holographic stairs, inching closer to his objective. "Almost there" he said to himself.

(50 seconds)

"Not so fast!" Chocolette grinned and putting two fingers in her mouth she whistled loudly and long.

(45 seconds)

The wall behind the pedestal unexpectedly exploded and a giant grotesque cy-bug emerged from the cloud of dirt, roaring at Felix.

(40 seconds)

Felix yelped and stopped dead in his track as the enormous creature screeched and blocked the path towards the medal.

(45 seconds)

Tamora whirled around, her eyes wide as plates as she recognized the creature. "The Cy-bug Queen?!" she exclaimed.

(40 seconds)

Both bad-guys grinned wide. "Hey Sarge! Catch this!" The queen shouted at Calhoun, throwing Vanellope to her suddenly.

(35 seconds)

"Wow!" Vanellope yelped in the air. Tamora whirled again and caught the racer princess in an automatic reflex, dropping both guns.

(30 seconds)

Chocolette's eyes glowed green as she unfurled a fluorescent green whip from her hip and spun it around her with sonorous whipping zaps.

(25 seconds)

Calhoun and Vanellope gaped when the queen wrapped her whip tight around them in a swift movement.

(20 seconds)

Ralph and Chocolette dashed forward with their eyes glowing green and red respectively. The queen pulled her whip hard, throwing her sister and the Sargent towards a wall, while Ralph skipped ahead of her.

(15 seconds)

Felix screamed in panic, terrified by the screeching Cy-bug Queen and unable to move; He then yelped in surprise after Ralph reached his side, pulled him from his armor collar and threw him backward towards where Calhoun and Vanellope had crashed, landing ungracefully on his back.

(10 seconds)

Blue Team shook their heads in confusion and then gasped in fear; a massive claw of the Cy-bug Queen kept them pressed and trapped against the wall. The creature loomed towards them with her mouth open, gruesome sticky green drops of saliva running down her many fangs.

(5 seconds)

"OH GUM I DON'T WANNA BE A CY-BUG!"

"AAAAAAAAAGGGRGH!"

"THIS IS THE END! THIS IS THE END!"

The three closed their eyes instinctively when they felt the breath of the creature in their faces.

(0)

_'Game Over!' _the mechanical voice of the computer announced and everything went silent for a long minute.

Blue Team kept stiff with their eyes closed, waiting for their terrible fate…but nothing happened.

They slowly and uncertainly started to open their eyes again with their brows arched in confusion. The Cy-bug Queen was still there, inches from their noses, but she wasn't moving or snarling anymore. Instead, she was just blinking at them curiously. Vanellope, Calhoun and Felix opened their eyes completely and blinked back at her silently, not knowing what to do or why the giant bug had stopped her advances.

And then, something amazing happened. The Cy-bug Queen screeched softly in a mocking laughing way, her six eyes squished in secret fun. She loosened her grip around the three while her screechy laugh got louder and unbearable, throwing her head back and squeezing her chest.

The heroes gaped in surprise, not believing their own eyes as the creature became hysterical, making the floor tremble slightly.

Calhoun growled exasperatedly, sensing something 'fishy' going on. "What the hell is wrong with this godforsaken creature?!" she hollered with her arms in the air.

"She's just enjoying herself, chill out Sarge" the unmistakable voice of Ralph chuckled behind the big monster.

Tamora cocked an eyebrow and the Cy-Bug Queen stepped aside a bit, revealing Chocolette and Ralph at the top of the pedestal, looking cocky and with matching knowing smiles.

The creature stopped her hysterical laugh momentarily and screeched repeatedly at them, hiccupping in between surprised laughs.

"Yeah you almost made them game over in fear, so hilarious!" the queen snorted at the Cy-bug with a mocking wave of her hand, and the infamous _Hero's_ _Duty_ lead character lost all color in her face.

"Y-you…you can understand her?!" Calhoun mumbled in disbelief, looking in utter shock as the creature smiled at them.

"Yeah, sort of," Chocolette admitted, earning a collective gasp from the heroes.

"H-How?!" Felix asked in astonishment, helping Vanellope rise to her feet again.

Chocolette and Ralph looked at each other and then back to them. "Well…it's a funny story actually," the wrecker started with a flashback coming to him.

-0-0-0-

_ The Cy-Bug Queen kept screeching sonorously and angrily at them, making Ralph and Chocolette step back in fear. _

_"Chocolette listen to me," Ralph started, wrapping an arm around the queen's waist and pulling her close to him while he kept glaring at the creature. "Hold on tight, I'm gonna try to punch her in the face and then catapult us up to the ceiling to get us out of here, okay?" he told her but the older Von Schweetz seemed to not hear him, her green eyes fixated on the six angry eyes of the monster. _

_Ralph growled in frustration; he knew his plan was suicidal but he couldn't think of a better option. He took a deep breath and mentally braced himself. _

_Letting out a booming roar he started to dart towards the creature when suddenly, Chocolette started to squirm in his grasp. _

_"Wait! WAIT! RALPH STOP!" She pleaded loudly and the wrecker stopped in mid sprint violently. _

_Breaking free from his grasp, the queen marched towards the Cy-bug Queen with a decisive look in her eyes, shocking Ralph. "Chocolette what are you-!?"_

_"We're sorry! We didn't mean to kill your babies!" the queen shouted at the creature and the monster went silent with her six eyes wide in surprise. _

_"You have all the right to be angry! I apologize! We were told you guys were only mindless killing programs," Chocolette said softly with her hands held in the air. _

_The Cy-bug Queen leaned her head in curiosity and loomed closer towards the racer queen, eyeing her suspiciously. She squealed softly a few times. _

_"Yes…I understand you," she admitted, making Ralph, the giant creature and the many cy-bugs around them gasp in astonishment. _

_"YOU WHAT?! How?!" Ralph stuttered not believing what was happening. _

_The monster squawked again in a questioning tone. _

_"Well yeah, I'm…I'm a queen too. We're not from this game." the villain smiled softly and the Cy-bug Queen screeched in comprehension. _

_ She shrieked lightly in conversation and Chocolette's eyes went wide in amazement. "So that's why we can understand each other!" she smiled and turned around to face Ralph. _

_The wrecker blinked silently as he waited expectantly for her clarification. _

_"We are both royals, we can listen and understand each other because our programs acknowledge each other's power and leadership!" she said with a wide grin. _

_Ralph's jaw dropped as he remembered Clyde's words the previous night:_ 'You're a royal bad-guy…it is a big deal…you'll understand in due time.'

_The queen skipped eagerly towards him and pulling his hand she forced him to come closer to the Cy-bug Queen's presence. He smiled sheepishly at the monster upon coming to the light and the creature growled slightly at him with a frown. _

_"It's okay, he is my friend. He is not going to hurt you or your babies anymore," Chocolette assured her and the giant bug loomed closer to his face with a wary look. _

_The monster sniffed his face, making Ralph cringe in awkwardness; the Cy-bug Queen's eyes went wide and she immediately sniffed the racer queen in realization, making the racer giggle with tickles. _

_She raised her head above them and screeched quizzically. Chocolette arched both eyebrows, "Yes we are both villains in our games, why do you ask?" and the moment she said those words, the many cy-bugs around them cheered happily. _

_A couple of them ventured closer to the pair, sniffing and nuzzling them affectionately. One tall ant-like cy-bug even dared to lick the side of Ralph's face, and the wrecker grunted in annoyance and revulsion. _

_The Cy-Bug Queen seemed to smile, bowing her head several times while squeaking in explanation. _

_"What is she saying?! Tell her to tell her 'kids' to quit the twaddle!" he barked, pushing away the head of another licking cy-bug._

_Chocolette turned her head towards him with a cocked eyebrow; the corner of her mouth wrinkled in mockery. _

_He blinked at her in wonder. "What?"_

_"She said that if they had known that we were bad guys, they wouldn't have attacked us! That they got confused because of the armor!" she scolded him in annoyance._

_Ralph opened his mouth but nothing came out as his brain couldn't form any comeback; he then frowned apologetically to the Cy-bug Queen._

_"I'm…I'm really sorry" he said very slowly and the creature bowed in acceptance. _

-0-0-0-

A cute baby cy-bug popped out from behind Chocolette's shoulder, flew towards Ralph and nuzzled against his check with a purring loving squeak. He tapped his tiny head with one of his clawed fingers, "Turns out that these killing monsters are actually cuter and more harmless than what we thought" he explained, much to the heroes' astonishment.

The baby cy-bug flew down towards them, stopping in front of Vanellope to sniff her; "Aw you are so adorable!" she chirped in delight, but when she tried to pet it with her tiny hand, the creature snarled at her and she pulled her hand back immediately in fear.

"Well, I guess they're only nice towards bad guys," the wrecker said sheepishly, scratching the side of his head as Vanellope blew a raspberry at the meanie mini bug.

"Anyways, after a brief explanation of what we were doing in _Hero's_ _Duty_, the Cy-bug Queen offered us her support. She kinda wanted to give a lesson to Calhoun and the General for all the meaningless cy-bug exterminations they've done outside of Arcade hours, and so…" he paused glancing down at Chocolette with an eyebrow arched.

She smiled playfully back at him "She used her program to mutate our armor and gave us command over some of her babies to make sure to give you all a good scare. These marks are just paint!" They proved their point by rubbing their faces and erasing the 'cy-bug facial markings'. "We even really didn't need to crash the Command Head Quarters, since the cy-bugs already know where the Tower is by instinct; but dearie here insisted on us paying Hologram a quick visit." Chocolette said with a thumb signaling the giant royal monster.

The baby cy-bug flew back towards the racer queen, chirping happily in her shoulder. The queen let a girly giggle escape, "Oh you're such an evil cutie patootie, aren't ya _Gumdrop_?" she said, grabbing the bug with both her hands and nuzzling her nose against his face, making him snigger with tickles.

Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope blinked silently at the bizarre image as Ralph too patted the Cy-bug queen's head without fear. Then their eyes suddenly widened in surprise and their mouths hung open when Ralph started to twirl the medal of _Hero's_ _Duty _around his finger.

"_Bad-Guys don't win medals _my behind!" he chuckled and Chocolette smiled wide at him with a blush. They held their eyes for a couple of seconds and Ralph felt his pixels burn in embarrassment but didn't mind one bit.

"I think the queen here deserves it more than us, Ralph," Chocolette told him glancing up at the massive creature. "If it wasn't for her, we would have lost for sure." she admitted and the cy-bug made an embarrassed dismissive gesture with one of her claws.

Ralph nodded in agreement. "You're totally right, _sugar queen_. Here! Catch!" he said and threw the medal towards the Cy-bug Queen.

She opened her mouth and swallowed the tiny medal in one bite, savoring its victorious flavor. The monster's skin color changed from green to metallic gold as the code of the medal fused with her own.

Calhoun knit her eyebrows in a straight line with a blank expression written all over her face; she then blew her bangs in annoyance, dusted herself off and turned her frown into a scolding look.

"You two are SO banned from this game!"

-0-0-0-

**You guys! Wow! Thank you so much for the HUGE amount of reviews! Almost 100?! This is crazy! I never imagined this story to become so popular.**

**I want to thank my dear Phantom for being such an amazing friend and awesome Beta Reader! This story wouldn't be the same without him!**

**I'm kinda shocked at how many of you wish to know more about the Sour Racers! I'm so GLAD you guys liked them! It's pretty rare for readers to like so much secondary OCs T_T You'll get to read a lot more about them the next chapter and after that, I promise.**

**I'm accepting drawing requests as always! Please check my DA account (GND-KicaCris) and my Tumblr (KicaCris) for art updates and also for comments and polls about the story. You can also ask me anything there if you wish or just talk with me, it's fine really.**

**Anyways! As always please don't forget to leave a review! I always read them all!**

**Side Note: Phantom and I already talked about this but we kinda wanted to know your opinion. Chapter 13 is planned to be an M rated episode and well since this story is already rated T we may or may not publish it here on as a separated chapter or perhaps I could publish it on my Tumblr account. It's even already written so chapter 13 will come much faster than previous chapters. So…the question is would you guys be ok with the special M rated episode? I'll understand if you are not, honestly and the last thing I wish to do is to scare you away with this, so I'll leave it to your choice. If you guys are not ok with this, I'll still publish the episode on my Tumblr for those who might want to still give it a shot.**

**Anyways! As always please don't forget to leave a review! I always read them all!**


	11. Black Dresses & Bubble Baths

Editor's Note: *coming in over the radio* Hello? Hello? Is this thing working? *tap, tap, tap* There once was a man from Nantucket… Oh wait they can hear me!

*clears throat* Good evening to the fine ladies and gentlemen who follow this fic. This is **The Phantom Soldier** reporting in for Ms. **GND-KicaCris**. Right now, our dear lady is touring North America, but has chosen to leave her laptop in the trusted hands of family in Florida due to its significant size and the hassle of carrying it around. As you can imagine, this makes updating this clever work rather difficult, so she has entrusted me with the task of posting this chapter in her stead rather than do so when she returns to the Sunshine State.

I feel I must personally apologize to all of you who have been so patiently awaiting an update on this wonderful work. It seemed as though every time I sat down to try and edit it, something would catch fire, explode or otherwise malfunction and delay me. I am truly sorry you all had to wait so long, but I do hope that the little moments of Ralph/Chocolette fluff ahead will make up for it.

And so, without further ado, I present to you the eleventh chapter of _Sugar Queen!_

**Original story by GND-KicaCris.**

**Revised and edited by The Phantom Soldier.**

**"Wreck-it Ralph" © Disney**

**Chapter 11: Black Dresses & Bubble Baths**

Ralph and Chocolette sat side by side on the train out of _Hero's Duty_ with matching satisfied smirks, along with Vanellope and the Fix-Its.

Calhoun had an angry scowl plastered on her face and the corner of her mouth was wrinkled in pure indignation; one could almost see the steam coming out of her ears and nostrils as she had never felt more humiliated in her entire life. Felix looked at her with a wary smile, sitting by her side while sighing in resignation; he lovingly patted her clenched fist, earning himself a burning glare from her, but that didn't make him flinch one bit. He smiled widely at her, as if secretly telling her to calm down.

She exhaled hard with her eyes closed and very slowly she unclenched her fists, but her frown refused to leave her eyes as she looked at the baby cy-bug that was happily perched on Chocolette's right shoulder.

"I can't believe Hologram let you keep him after all the trouble we made him go through," Ralph said with a chuckle, looking at the queen's new pet in amusement.

"He said that as long as we don't step foot in his game again, I could keep as many cy-bugs as I wanted," she sniggered while tenderly scratching the head of the creature, who purred in content and snuggled closely to the queen's cheek.

"He even took the time to re-program him so he won't grow or multiply like crazy. He'll still eat a lot I guess but I don't think that would be a problem in _Sugar_ _Rush_," she joked with a mocking smile. "Call me crazy, but I kinda liked the General. You did too, right Gumdrop?" She smiled sarcastically at the tiny bug, earning a laughing screech from him.

Vanellope looked at the baby cy-bug with curiosity. "_Gumdrop_?_" _She repeated the name in fun, and the little bug growled in annoyance at her. The younger Von Schweetz frowned at him and stuck out her tongue in response.

Chocolette rolled her eyes as the two shorties started a childish quarrel, blowing raspberries at each other. "Oh quit it you two!" she chuckled.

As the train pulled into the Game Central Station terminal and the characters debarked, Ralph's ears perked up at a mysterious sound like cheering emanated from Game Central Station. The royal siblings and the Fix-Its arched their eyebrows quizzically while the booming sound of applause and ovations grew louder.

As they stepped out of the terminal, the five characters gaped in surprise at the source of the strange noise as they all noticed the members of Bad Anon gathered expectantly at the _Hero's Duty: World's Expansion_ terminal entrance with many other game characters. The crowd exploded with cheers, whistles and claps, surprising and confusing them even more.

Calhoun brushed her bangs out of her eyes, not grasping at all what was happening. "What now?" she said in annoyance noticing all the villainous characters' proud smiles.

The queen and the wrecker then yelped in surprise when Zangief abruptly rushed out of the crowd towards them and wrapped them both in a tight bear hug that almost crushed the air out of them. "What the-!?" they both said in protest with equal choking expressions and the Russian street fighter quickly let go of them, flashing a wide toothy grin at both.

"RALPH! CHOCO! In all his years of fighting, Zangief has to admit that he has never seen such a memorable fight like this ever!" he said in his thick Russian accent while brushing a tiny proud tear out of the corner of his eye.

Ralph and Chocolette exchanged shocked looks with each other before glancing back at their street fighter friend with blushing cheeks. "Y-you all saw us?!" Ralph questioned in embarrassment and Zangief nodded excitedly.

"Of course! We saw the whole thing!" The three heard and looked back to see Bowser standing tall with his arms crossed over his broad chest with a proud smile adorning his harsh features.

Zangief stepped aside as the legendary villain approached the already nervous wrecker and racing queen with a smirk, and in a swift move he raised them both in a tight hug and twirled them around in utter excitement.

Calhoun, Felix and Vanellope silently watched the whole scene without saying a single world, dumbfounded by the image of such an intimidating group of villains looking so happy and cheerful at their friends' unexpected victory.

Ralph blushed madly in mortification, ignoring the happy giggles of Chocolette. "Alright, alright, knock the hugging contest off already, old man!" he complained while trying to free himself from Bowser's strong grasp to no avail.

Bowser's booming laugh echoed through the whole station before he finally stopped his twirling and set the now dizzy couple down. He then proceeded to playfully nudge Ralph's head, much to the wrecker's bemusement. "I KNEW you had it in you, kiddo! It was about time you started acting like one of your kind!" the tall turtle dragon teased and all the bad-guys laughed with their leader.

Ralph grunted and flinched at the old bad-guy's hard nudges, feeling his face's pixels go hot in embarrassment. "STOP IT!" he hollered though he couldn't help himself as a tiny smile curled in the corner of his mouth, his soul feeling content and somehow liberated.

Finally stopping his friendly torturing antics, Bowser hugged the shoulders of both Chocolette and Ralph firmly. "You don't know how incredibly proud I am of you two right now. You gave a lesson to this arcade that will surely be remembered for many generations to come!" he said in his deep raspy voice, earning more sonorous applause and cheers from their comrades.

The Queen looked up at him with a curious glint in her green eyes. "A lesson?" she repeated, raising a questioning eyebrow at him.

The Koopa King looked down at her, his smile growing even wider. "Yes, a lesson!" he said, turning his eyes to Ralph and then to the other members of Bad Anon. "That we are more than just villains; we are more than just foes that heroes have to defeat and that we definitely and surely can accomplish whatever goal we set our minds and hearts to reach, regardless of any stupid gaming taboo there is!"

"BAD-GUYS _CAN_ WIN MEDALS!" he bellowed in a guffaw and the crowd echoed the phrase repeatedly in excitement.

Ralph looked around him as the cheers got louder; almost all video game villains of Game Central Station were there, celebrating their victory as if no great deed had ever been attained before. He had never been praised like this, not even when he saved _Sugar Rush_ and its _princess_ last year; he did got a lot of respect and recognition after having proved that a Bad-Guy could also be a hero, but somehow that didn't make as much of a fuss as winning a simple Good-guys vs. Bad-Guys 'friendly' competition.

An unfamiliar but warming sense of pride started to slowly grow in his chest and his half smile grew wider. It wasn't that he hadn't felt proud of himself when he risked a permanent game over to save Vanellope and her game, no. But this, this was something completely different; He was being praised by _his_ people, his kind, for having accomplished a victory by being himself and he would be a liar if he dared to say that it didn't feel good.

Bowser then raised both hands, signaling to his comrades to go silent again. "Alright fellows, listen up! Since this is such a unique occurrence, this must be celebrated properly and greatly with all of the honor that it deserves. And so tomorrow night I, Koopa King Bowser, will host the biggest _rave _this Arcade has ever had in my own castle! All bad-guys are invited!" And so the 'evil' crowd went wild with excitement once again.

Felix gulped at Bowser's announcement, "Jeepers…A bad-guy _rave_!" he said in a worried tone, peeking Vanellope's curiosity.

"What's a _rave_?" the little racer president innocently asked him and the handyman looked more flustered than before at the prospect of explaining the meaning to her.

"Ah…well you see…uhm," he started but was quickly saved by his wife.

"It's a… grown-ups kind of party, kiddo," Calhoun simply said, not wanting to go much into the details for the sake of her own sanity. She looked back at Ralph and Chocolette who looked surprised but thrilled; her brows furrowed in concern just like Felix's.

Bowser again silenced the crowd to speak again. "So whadda ya say, kids? You in? We can't have this party without our two guests of honor!" He winked at both while softly patting their shoulders.

Ralph seemed to truly give it a few seconds of thought as he had never been to _a Bad-Guy Rave_ before, but he had certainly heard a few crazy stories regarding the parties at Bowser's Castle. He glanced at the Surge Protector who clearly wasn't too thrilled with the idea, his arms crossed over his chest while tapping his right foot. Ralph frowned in annoyance at him; knowing the guy he was probably being more judgmental than worried.

He then glanced back at the Fix-Its, who obviously seemed concerned, as if they could tell that this could be a bad idea, and then he looked at Vanellope who in her innocence actually looked excited; she even nodded repeatedly at him and encouraged him to say 'yes' with her mouth.

Finally he looked at the racer Queen at his side, and her green eyes looked back at his reddish brown ones in expectation. He gulped before asking her, "What do you think, _sugar queen_?" his pet name for her slipping out of his mouth unconsciously, and he mentally slapped himself in embarrassment at his brain's clumsiness. _'Why did I just say her pet name like that? Why am I encouraging her to go?'_

Chocolette blushed a bit when hearing him say her pet name in public, earning a few chuckles from the crowd. She mentally composed herself and pretended not to be shocked, though inside she felt incredibly gleeful, like a schoolgirl who has finally been asked out on a date by her crush.

She faked a cough to clear her throat before answering, "Well…I guess… if you go I'll go, big guy," she smiled shyly with her eyes half lidded in a flirty way.

Ralph blushed too with his eyes slightly wide, but he quickly changed his hesitant expression into a cocky, handsome smile as a newfound sense of confidence started to awaken inside of him. "Well," he said, pausing for dramatic effect, "why the hell not, let's do this!"

The bad-guys shouted in excitement while chanting _"rave, rave, rave, rave!" _with enthusiasm and fist pumping in the air.

"Great, it's settled then. Tomorrow after the Arcade closes, you all are invited to my castle. No good-guys allowed of course, just bad-guys and evil minions will be allowed. Now if you two kids will excuse me, I better go and calm down the Surge Protector before he pierces my skull with that glare of his," the great Koopa King joked and he slowly walked towards the aforementioned officer who was already having an argument with Clyde about the security of such an event.

The crowd started to disperse, with most characters heading back to their games after such a long night, leaving Ralph and Chocolette standing alone in front of the _Hero's Duty_ terminal.

Vanellope glitched and reappeared sitting on Ralph's shoulder, looking particularly tired. "So…you two are going to this party _together_, huh?" she said casually with a knowing smile as the Fix-Its joined them as well.

"Looks like it," Ralph said while glancing down at Chocolette who was distracted petting Gumdrop. He couldn't help but feel excited at the prospect of going to such a party with her.

Felix and Calhoun exchanged worried looks when noticing Ralph's smitten gaze, but decided not to say anything about it…just yet.

"Will this be like a date or something?" Vanellope pressed and both Fix-Its face palmed simultaneously at the littler racer's lack of tact regarding the subject.

But Ralph's answer caught all of them off guard. "Yeah, I guess so," he said nonchalantly as if it was the most natural thing in the world, throwing all of them off the hook.

Vanellope grinned wide at her sister who stood frozen in place with her hand hovering over Gumdrop's head and her face completely red. She blinked several times before her brain finally managed to reset and function again. "…a-a date?! Seriously?!" she babbled, not believing her own ears.

Felix, Calhoun and Vanellope glanced back and forth between both bad-guys.

Ralph's smoldering smile grew wider "Sure, why not? Unless of course you don't want it to be-"

"YES!" She suddenly shouted in a very girly way, startling all of them. They all looked in astonishment at her sudden out of character outburst with big fearful eyes as if she had abruptly become some sort of strange monster.

"I mean…" she tried to recompose herself again, clearing her throat and giving him her trademark smirk. "Yes," she said seductively while batting her eyelashes.

Vanellope cocked an eyebrow in confusion but smiled never the less when noticing her sister and Ralph exchanging blushing smitten looks. She then tried to cover a yawn but failed miserably as both villains turned their eyes on her.

"Looks like someone had too much fun tonight," Ralph chuckled, feeling Vanellope's head tilt over the side of his skull. He took her in one hand and carefully carried her in his arm.

"I'm not a baby, Stinkbrain! And I'm not tired!" she stubbornly protested but her tired expression didn't fool them one bit.

"Yeah right and you can barely keep your eyes open because…?" he pressed sarcastically.

Vanellope pouted at him but couldn't help herself to snuggle against his big, soft and warm arm. "Shut up," she barked with her eyes closed.

Chocolette smiled softly, feeling her own dark heart melt at the cute father/daughter moment in front of her. "Hehehe, come on lil' sis, let's get you back to your castle before you pass out," she said, and she gestured Ralph to give the sleepy princess to her.

He gaped at her gesture but decided to do as he was told; she carefully picked her up and carried her with both arms as though she was the most precious and delicate thing in the world.

Vanellope briefly opened her eyes to look up at her sister just to smile and close them again, snuggling happily against her chest and enjoying the somehow familiar warmth. She could easily tell that this was not the first time her older sister had carried her like this.

Chocolette felt the same too and smiled sadly while carrying her sister, but quickly brushed the feeling off as she pretended to readjust Vanellope's weight in her arms; unknowingly to her, Ralph noticed her sad smile but decided not to say anything.

"I'll take her back to _Sugar_ _Rush_… thanks for…uh…inviting me to your game jumping night guys…and sorry again for the trouble, _Tammy,_" the dark Queen said with a teasing smirk.

Calhoun's annoyed frown refused to disappear but a tiny smile curled in the corner of her mouth. "We'll have a rematch someday…_Chocolette,_" she snorted and finally allowed herself to like the older Von Schweetz. Seeing her carrying Vanellope like that made her believe that maybe, just maybe, the dark racer queen wasn't as bad as she bragged to be.

Felix smiled broadly at his wife's change of demeanor and tipped the brim of his hat in farewell. "Good night ma'am! Surely you'll join us next time we game jump, right?"

Chocolette giggled at the handyman's politeness. "Well if you guys invite me again, that is…I don't actually have much to do after Arcade hours…except maybe race by myself, babysit the Sour Racers…plot against my sister…" she said and laughed heartily when she saw the alarmed expressions on their faces.

"Kidding, just kidding guys! Relax!" she reassured them with a dismissive wave of her hand and the three sighed with relief.

Ralph snorted at her. "Would you like me to escort you both back to _Sugar_ _Rush_?" he offered gentlemanly but with a smirk.

Chocolette smirked back at him with flirty eyes. "Let's save it for tomorrow after the party, big guy," she winked at him and sniggered in delight while turning around on her heels; she walked away from them and towards _Sugar Rush's_ port with Vanellope already asleep in her arms.

Ralph stood there, completely flustered and frozen in the spot while his brain tried to process her innuendo; he then shook his head furiously in a futile effort to silence his _bad thoughts_, but when he looked back at her parting figure, he couldn't help himself as a slight defiant smirk crept to the corner of his mouth and he allowed his eyes to wander over her back.

"RALPH!" Felix's voice suddenly brought him back to his normal self. Whirling around, he faced the knowing smiles of the Fix-Its.

"Wha-what?" he asked them, confused.

"Cheeky Wreck-It," Calhoun chuckled teasingly.

"What?!" he insisted again, obviously missing the joke.

"Jiminy Jaminy Ralph! You were…you were…uhm…" the short hero struggled to put it in 'nice words'. "You were shamelessly checking her out!" Felix scolded him with a smile.

Ralph choked with a deep blush. "No I wasn't!" he protested with indignation.

"Oooooh hohoho yes you were soldier, and I must say, in a not so very 'good way'," the _Hero's Duty_ protagonist kept teasing.

Ralph grunted and turned around, beating a path straight to the _Fix-It Felix Jr._ terminal without saying another word.

-0-0-0-

The next day came and again the rain was pouring down, but much stronger than the day before. This time, not even the Moppet Girl or the rascal teen duo came to visit as it was truly too dangerous to walk or drive to the arcade with the wind blowing so strongly and the rain pelting the ground.

Litwak sighed in resignation, hoping that the seasonal bad weather would end before it significantly started to cause his business trouble. Glancing at his watch and noticing the almost empty arcade, he decided to close an hour earlier than usual and head home before the storm got any worse.

Turning the lights off and making sure that the store's emergency power plant was working well, the old owner locked his business's doors and went home.

"Enjoy the rest of the evening guys," he spoke aloud to no one in particular while walking towards his car, struggling to keep his umbrella from taking off in the gusts.

-0-0-0-

Ralph sighed in annoyance as he looked at his reflection in the mirror, his brow knit in a straight line; Right after Litwak had closed the arcade's doors, the wrecker had sprinted at match speed to clean himself up and dress for tonight's party at Bowser's castle, feeling extremely eager and excited at the prospect of having a fun night with his bad-guy comrades and also having the rare occasion to meet the rest of Bowser's pals from NES Central.

But more importantly, he was secretly looking forward to having a great night with Vanellope's older sister, Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz.

But much to his luck, his enthusiasm dropped when his friends came to help him dress properly for the celebration, as the wrecker truly had nothing proper to wear for the occasion. He wrinkled his nose in disgust while looking at his current attire: he was wearing a ridiculous baby blue tuxedo with a white satin ruffled shirt and matching blue bowtie. He looked at Felix, who was at his side, looking proud and excited at his antagonist while cleaning a pair of lustrous white shoes that clearly belonged to a much distant time.

Ralph pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing deeply a couple of times to regain his patience while trying to ignore Vanellope's futile attempts to drown her uncontrollable giggles against one of the pillows of his living room's sofa.

"I'm not wearing this, Felix," he grumbled and started to untie the silly bowtie.

The short handyman looked back at him in confusion. "What?! Why not? Come on Ralph, you look great!" he insisted with one hand on his hips and the other carrying the oversized white shoes.

He looked down at him and held his index finger in the air. "One, because the 80's are long gone. And two, it's a _rave_ Felix, not the high school prom," he finished as he threw his large blue tuxedo jacket over the short hero with a mocking smirk.

Felix yanked the jacket off of himself and frowned in disapproval, feeling slightly offended. Vanellope couldn't hold it in anymore and started to roar with laugher.

"But it's Bowser's Castle, Ralph! You're his guest of honor and you'll be representing our game in there! Don't you want to look good? What better way than using this magnificent suit!" he insisted but was quickly silenced again by another piece of flying clothing.

The wrecker sighed again, now clad in a white tank top and the blue pants of the old tuxedo, carefully choosing his words before offending his protagonist even more. "Look, I appreciate you guys trying to help, but there is no way in _Satan's Hollow_ that I'll be wearing that _Back to the Past _tuxedo or the _Trick or Treat Nightmare_ that Vanellope brought!" he said firmly and it was now Vanellope's turn to look offended.

"Hey! I spent HOURS making that for you, you ungrateful Brute!" she said with her arms crossed while glancing at the red velvet tuxedo that was currently hung up on Ralph's bedroom door. It didn't look half bad as Felix's 80's tuxedo, except for the fact that it was obviously made of red fondant and was absurdly covered in all sorts of candy sprinkles and white whip cream.

Ralph smiled apologetically at her. "I know kid. I'm sorry. I promise I'll wear it next time you have a party in _Sugar_ _Rush,_" he tried to assure her, earning an eye-roll and a huff from her.

Just then, Calhoun entered the shack with a grey duffle bag slung across her shoulder and froze at the fashion disaster zone in front of her. "Having dress problems I see," she chuckled with a cocked eyebrow.

Ralph snorted at her and looked away. "If you only came to mock me, then you can go back and have fun with the Cy-bug Queen, for all I care," he warned her, feeling his temper starting to rise.

She rolled her eyes and approached the couch where Vanellope was currently lying. "I think you'll be grateful that I came to save your fashion predicament, drama queen," she teased while opening the grey duffle in front of the little candy racer.

Ralph and Felix blinked silently at her as Vanellope gasped in wonder upon looking inside Calhoun's mysterious sack. "Whoa! Where did you get this?" The young president asked in wonder as Calhoun pulled out an oversized but clean looking _Black Leather Pilot Jacket_ for all to see.

Ralph gaped in surprise and happiness while Felix wrinkled his nose in uncertainty.

"I figured that Wreck-It here would have trouble choosing something _adequate _to wear for a _Bad-Guy Rave, _so I went to check on my game's new code room to see if there was something there that could help us with this predicament. Lucky for you, our new character customization option comes with plenty of clothes to choose. I brought the ones that didn't look too military and the clothes are already adjusted to fit your size." She tossed the jacket to Ralph.

He caught it in one hand and tried it on. He marveled at how cool he actually looked while wearing it; the jacket was pitch black with a furry brown V-neck that went down to his upper chest, joined together by a golden brown zipper. It fit him perfectly, stretching over his toned biceps without tearing apart and he happily noticed that he could even close the zipper if he wanted to. He chuckled when he noticed that Calhoun had also taken the liberty to add a few distinctive embroidered patches to each shoulder; the right one had the red insignia of Bowser's face that was commonly used to identify a Bad-Guy, and the other was a simple patch of his name made with bricks that clearly read 'Wreck-It Ralph'.

He looked back at Calhoun with big sparking eyes full of gratitude and a wide gaping smile.

The sergeant smiled cockily at him. "You're very welcome," she winked with a military salute.

"Felix…if you weren't married to her, I swear I'd have kissed her right now," he joked while checking the back and sides of his jacket in the mirror.

Felix smiled proudly at his wife though his eyebrow was still cocked in uncertainty. "Lucky me! Though I still don't see what the fuss is about such an _informal_ looking jacket," he complained and Ralph looked down at him in shock.

"Are you crazy?! This is the coolest piece of clothing I have ever worn in my 31 years! Sorry Calhoun, but I'm not giving this back. I might even add it to my code box in our code room after the party," he said while adjusting the collar with a smirk.

Vanellope giggled and Calhoun shook her head in restrained mirth. "Wait to see the rest of the gold that I brought here," she sniggered and proceeded to unpack the rest of her bag's contents.

-0-0-0-

Across the way from _Fix_-_It_ _Felix_ _Jr_. _2_, another bad-guy was having her own dressing predicament.

The six Sour Racers of Black Cola Castle stood still while watching in collective confusion as numerous articles of clothing and different dresses flew high into the air towards their position. They were in Black Cola Castle's royal master bedroom, where the queen usually rested. It consisted of a large, fancy white room with its floor covered in a wooly white rug and mostly black furniture; in the middle sat a large comfortable looking black leather chamois sofa with a round glossy black coffee table in front and a black and gold chandelier hanging up on the ceiling. A white marble hairdresser with a matching wooden chair rested in the corner of the room with a full body mirror at its side. Two sets of tall black doors lay to the side, leading to the master closet and bathroom respectively, with a set of ornate black changing screens situated near the closet doors. The centerpiece of the room was a king size bed covered by translucent white curtains. The bed had a fuzzy black comforter with golden ornaments and various giant puffy white pillows with matching golden decorations too; it was truly a bedroom fit for a queen.

The six minions silently blinked and watched with concern and confusion as their ever so fearful monarch walked in circles while trying on and tossing away different outfits madly.

Bonbon Lola observed as well, completely bored, looking almost like her old friend Sour Bill even, unfazed by the mess the queen was currently making while dressing and undressing tirelessly behind her bedroom's black changing screens.

Deciding that enough was enough, the Sour Racer leader finally snapped. "Would you please just pick a damn dress already for crying out loud?!" Razz shouted, earning incredulous wide-eyed looks from her partners who gaped at her as if she had just signed her own game over warrant.

The queen suddenly stopped her struggling and peeked out from one of her changing screens, glaring daggers at the orange racer. Her long black and white ponytail was in disarray, falling wildly out of her crown. "This is serious business Razz! My plan depends on this, so shut your mouth and help me pick something!" she fumed at her and returned to trying on more clothes.

Razz rolled her eyes in desperation, "Yeah sure, you have all six of us here, wasting our time by picking out your fashion mess just for your 'evil plan' and not because you're actually concerned about what Wreck-It is actually going to think about your outfit." She teased sarcastically and again the rest of her team gasped in shock at her boldness.

"I don't know what you're babbling about, Razz," the queen sang from behind the screens.

"Admit it boss…**YOU** have it **BAD** for the guy," Razz pressed again and chuckled when she heard her queen trip and fall to the floor.

"No-no! **HE** has it **BAD** for me, silly!" she stuttered to correct her and Razz would have bet anything that the evil queen was blushing madly behind the screens.

"Whatever, just pick a dress already and let us go!" Razz insisted with a frustrated expression.

Chocolette suddenly stopped behind the screens; she smiled mischievously and stepped out, wearing a black knee-length silk robe. She brushed away a few ivory strands of her loosened ponytail and walked towards her large mirror in the corner of the bedroom.

"Oh, I didn't know you guys already had plans for tonight," she said in tone of affected surprise. "And here I was thinking on actually letting you go with me to the party." She picked up two discarded dresses from the floor and pretended to check out how she would look in them without actually trying them on.

The six racers straightened up immediately, curiosity and surprise washing across their faces. "Wait-what?" Razz questioned, uncrossing her arms.

"Are you serious Boss?!" Warhead suddenly shouted with his green eyes poking out from his afro.

"Please don't – kid with us about this!" Zoet and Zurr begged.

Even Franknerd looked surprise as he climbed over Rocko's shoulder like a monkey, with his spiral racing goggles barely hanging on his nose, showing his shocked purple eyes.

Rocko lowered his sun glasses to look at his queen more clearly, his red eyes shining in disbelief. "Don't play mind tricks with us, boss," he said in his thick Mexican accent.

Chocolette hummed a playful tune as she continued to check on both dresses. "I'm serious; you fools already learned your lesson and I think it's about time you get your chance to get out of the castle. And Lola does need a break from babysitting you." She giggled when they started to cheer in utter happiness.

"Woohoo! Alright dogs!" Warhead shouted and started to high-five his pals.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaa! We're going to the party! We're going to the party!" the twins screamed and jumped in a tight, victorious hug.

Warhead froze while trying to high-five Razz when he noticed her straight line frown. "What's the catch?" she asked in an un-amused tone.

Chocolette cocked an eyebrow and turned around to face them with a mischievous smirk.

Their excited faces quickly dropped, mimicking Razz's expression. "Of course…there has to be a catch," Warhead complained with his arms crossed over his bare chest.

Chocolette laughed maniacally at them. "Relax dearies, I promise you'll have plenty of fun tonight…I just need you to help me with a little…musical number," she said with a sinister smile, earning six matching grins of excitement from them.

-0-0-0-

An hour later, Ralph found himself walking the familiar Lollypop Plain that surrounded Black Cola Castle to pick up Chocolette. As he was walking, he couldn't avoid remembering his last conversation with his friends before departing.

-0-0-0-

_He was finally fully dressed, clad in his black leather pilot jacket over a tight, black shirt, a pair of brown jeans and a set of black combat boots. He had even left his brown fingerless gloves on seeing that they matched his outfit perfectly. His wild spiky auburn hair was clean and combed slightly backwards, though he could tell that it was a matter of time before it returned to its naturally messy form. He smirked confidently at his reflection in the mirror while Felix kept lecturing him._

_"Now brother, I know you'll be playing your role tonight according to your original plan but please hear me out… don't let yourself get into it too much." The short hero warned him kindly with a worried frown. _

_The wrecker rolled his eyes for the tenth time that day and turned around to face his protagonist. "Felix for the last time, I'll be fine! I'll just go there, have some fun and return home safe and sound. If everything works well, I might find out tonight if Chocolette has a cat in the bag or not," he smirked confidentially at him with his hands in his jeans' pockets. _

_"He'll be fine, short stack. The worst thing that could happen to him would be Queenie biting him or something like that…And I don't think Wreck-It would mind it at all," Calhoun joked while sitting next to Vanellope on the couch. _

_Vanellope giggled and smiled excitedly at her giant of a man best friend. "Aren't you gonna give her flowers or something, Stinkbrain?" she asked him with big girly eyes and a wide enthusiastic grin._

_Ralph snorted, blushing slightly and scratching the back of his neck. "Erhm…no kid, I'm not…" he admitted to her and internally begged the programmers for her not to ask him why._

_Alas, he should have known better as Vanellope frowned in disapproval. "Why not?!" she shouted, outraged and feeling overprotective towards her older sister. _

_The Sergeant quickly patted her head in a motherly way to quell her anger. "Bad-guys date differently, kiddo. I'll explain it to you someday if you ever get yourself an age upgrade," she reassured her and the little racer pouted back at her in confusion. _

_Felix looked over his shoulder towards Vanellope and Calhoun and glanced back at Ralph again with uncertainty. "Just don't let your bad-guy code get control of you, okay? …and remember to always be a gentleman!" he warned him in a brotherly tone with his index finger held in the air._

-0-0-0-

"Worry wart! I've got everything under control," Ralph snorted in amusement, knocking on the massive black and white doors of the castle's entrance. He waited patiently a minute or two before a door swung open and Bonbon Lola received him with a kind smile.

"_Bon_ _soir_ _Mssr_. Wreck-It! Her majesty told me that you'd come to pick her up for tonight's party. Unfortunately, the queen is still not ready yet and she kindly asked if you could wait for her a few more minutes." The pink round majordomo looked up at him with a nervous brow.

Ralph arched an eyebrow and shook his head knowingly. "I should have expected it. Well alright, I'll wait. I'm not going to the party without her anyways."

"_Magnifique_! Follow me _s'il vous plait_!" and Lola gleefully opened the doors wider to allow him to enter.

She guided him through a different long corridor to the southern part of the castle. He looked around the walls curiously as he had never been in this part of the castle before, noticing the fancier looking gold decorations on the walls and tapestries. Turning left, they entered another long corridor with walls that sported gigantic purple windows that provided a natural source of light. At the end of the corridor stood two tall, white marzipan doors with extravagant black and gold swirled engravings.

Ralph stared in confusion as Lola opened the doors and revealed to him what he could easily guess was the Queen's private chamber.

Bonbon Lola looked up at him with a kind warm smile. "Make yourself comfortable, _s'il vous plait! _The queen will join you soon enough." She bowed politely and quickly closed the doors behind him, leaving him completely alone in Chocolette's bedroom.

He gulped nervously, stretching his shirt's collar with his index finger upon hearing the doors close tight. The wrecker anxiously glanced around him, looking at every single detail of her private room and gasping in shock at the titanic king size bed in the corner, which was clearly big enough for two grown men of his size.

He was taking in more of the details when his ears picked up a soft, vague humming. Looking around, he discovered that the humming seemed to be coming from beyond one of the tall black doors that was slightly ajar. His curiosity piqued and without giving it much thought, he walked towards the source of the musical sound with large, slow footsteps.

When he was but a few inches away from the door, the humming turned into singing. His ears also registered the sounds of splashing water, but his mind was so entranced by the strange tune and the beautiful voice that he didn't really care. Just as he was about to peek into the crack between the door and the frame, his feet were caught in a carelessly discarded dress. Before he even knew what happened, Ralph tripped over the dress and fell forward, crashing ungracefully through the doors and landing flat on his face against the lustrous marble floor.

"Ugh…sweet Mother Hubbard…" For a moment, Ralph didn't know what to do. He felt like an absolute fool lying on the cold tiled floor. Still, he mustered himself and picked himself up. After dusting himself off, he finally looked up and, though a small part of his mind cheered and hollered in joy at the sight before him, a large portion of his mind told him he'd have been better off trying to pass himself off as a rug on the floor.

"Uhmm... Uh..." Ralph tried and utterly failed to form a coherent thought. The sight before him was one that would be forever burned into his mind. With only her head visible above a mountain of bubbles, Dark Queen Chocolette Von Schweetz was lying in an opulent bathtub that looked like it could've held Ralph too with room to spare (a thought that Ralph knew was going to be stuck in his mind for days). Even worse, despite the fact that he could only see her head, with her long ebony and ivory curls drenched and flowing all around, framing her beautiful face, his mind was beginning to form images of just what lay beneath the waves of the sudsy surface...

For her part, Chocolette blinked silently at him with her brain registering what had just happened without saying a single word, still looking slightly surprised. She then giggled mischievously at him; any other woman in her right mind would have screamed her lungs out in complete terror for certain, perhaps even throw things at his head in rage... but the Dark Queen was not any other woman as she was completely amused by the situation her favorite guy had involuntary gotten himself into.

"Gee Ralphie, you're always in such a hurry sometimes... I was expecting us to be this comfortable _after_ the party," she joked while raising a leg teasingly out of the water, slowly running a large sponge along its length. "You're making it too easy and fun for me."

Ralph was ready to rebuke her initial jibe, but he found his resolve shut down the moment she raised that long and graceful leg out of the tub. Just the way she slowly ran the sponge over it, sensually, intimately... He was never this dumbstruck, not even after a full day of landing straight on his head in _Fix_-_It_ _Felix_.

Chocolette noticed his hypnotized gawk and blushed a bit darker while keeping her unfazed act. The party hadn't even started yet and she was already having some teasing fun with him. "It's not 'nice' to stare for so long like that, big guy. Lucky for you, I don't like nice guys." She grinned mockingly. "I wouldn't mind if you joined me, though Bowser won't be happy if we arrive late to the party." She comically bent her leg in his direction, poking a few bubbles with her toes.

Ralph finally managed to rein his thoughts and imagination in and turned around, though he didn't immediately storm out of the bathroom.

"So," he said, finally finding his voice. "I take it you're not mad at me?" The gentleman inside of him called out to him that he should apologize, but his inner bad-guy, perhaps emboldened by his new outfit or even the events of the previous night, told him to play it cool and act unrepentant.

She smirked and resumed her bath, picking up the hand-held showerhead to rinse the bubbles off. "Why would I be?" she questioned him playfully. Chocolette then noticed his outfit and took her chance to shamelessly check him out, her eyes roaming over every inch of him. "My oh my Ralph! You look so sharp! Really digging the 'bad-boy' style here!"

The steam from the showerhead was raising the humidity level in the bathroom considerably. Ralph knew that she was baiting him, but he could also feel her eyes on him at the same time. _'Alright Sugar Queen... you want a show? I'll give you a show.'_ Ralph unzipped his jacket and shrugged it off of his shoulders, removing it from his massive arms and hanging it on a nearby hook. Now clad only in his tight fitting black t-shirt, Ralph stretched his arms out, giving the Queen a perfect view of every well defined muscle in his back. "You can thank Calhoun for it. If Felix or your sister had had their way, believe me you'd have run as fast as those legs could carry you."

Chocolette froze with the hand-held showerhead spouting water above her opposite shoulder with her mouth shut and her eyes wide as plates, almost not hearing him speak the last part. She yelped when she noticed the water beginning to overflow and she clumsily but silently opened the drain to fix the problem. She hoped he hadn't noticed it. Clearing her throat, she proceeded to wrap her long wavy hair in a messy bun while she waited for the water to finish draining. She then remembered him mentioning her sister. "What did my cavity of a sister and your handyman do now?"

_'Got distracted, did you your highness? Good.'_ Ralph didn't trust himself to turn around yet, but he knew by the sound of splashing water, her yelp, and her lack of registering his comment that he had taken her off balance. He pressed his advantage by stretching his arms backwards, really giving her a view of his solid deltoids and the bulging biceps sprouting from his shirt's sleeves. "Your sister wanted me to wear something that looked like the kart bakery had a heart attack and Felix wanted me to wear a baby blue tuxedo. Like I said, Calhoun came to our rescue with this ensemble."

She rolled her eyes at that. "My sister really doesn't know when to stop adding so much sugar to her pies and your good-guy should get his fashion tastes cleansed," she said sarcastically while enjoying the view of his clenched muscles. _'I wonder if he's doing that on purpose…'_

She shivered when the great bathtub was finally empty and the cool air brushed against her damp, naked figure. She stood up and grabbed a nearby black towel and proceeded to dry herself off. "Who would have guessed that dear Sergeant Grumpy panties would become my heroine? Now I'll have to give her a kiss on the cheek, as it is the mandatory price for a hero who has saved a royal damsel in distress." She found it completely amusing that the tough-as-nails soldier would be the one with the best fashion sense of the group.

"Calhoun's not so bad once you get to know her. Did I ever tell you that the first time we met she slugged me? Several times?" He could hear her feet stepping onto the tiles of the floor and his temptation was pushing him to turn around. But he wouldn't give her the satisfaction… not yet.

Chocolette suddenly perked up at the mention of Calhoun's part with a frown. "She did what?!" She fumed but then sensed that he was perhaps joking. Still, she became overwhelmed with jealously. "Never mind...I don't want to know." She didn't sound too happy.

"Gumdrop dear! Bring mommy her robe please!" she shouted and the little baby-cybug came flying from the bedroom with a knee length black silk robe clutched in his tiny paws.

Ralph stepped to the side as the little cy-bug flew in carrying the robe, finding the image endearing. Her tone of voice at hearing how the sergeant had repeatedly clocked him brought a little bit of excitement to his heart, telling him that she did care.

He kept his feet rooted to the spot while she dried herself off. "And give your sister a break. I know she can get over excited, but she just wants to help everyone around her. Besides, she can be pretty wicked herself sometimes."

"My sister? Wicked? Oh Ralphie, you don't know what wicked truly _is_," she flirted while Gumdrop helped her slide the robe onto her bare shoulders.

"I dunno Chocolette," he said with a knowing smile. "Threatening to execute all of the people in this game who were ever mean to her the moment she took the throne seems like a pretty wicked thing to me."

Chocolette froze at that, the short robe tied tightly while Gumdrop flew towards Ralph and landed happily on his shoulder, screeching at him and waving his short tail happily.

"Really? My goodie-goodie sister said that?" she asked, sounding astonished. With her hands on her waist, she walked past him with wide swings of her hips, stepping out of the royal bathroom and heading towards her hairdresser.

"Surely she didn't actually mean it. She might have a sharp tongue like me, but she wouldn't hurt a fly. Still, I can't help but feel slightly proud of her." She giggled darkly and took a seat to brush her long curly bicolored hair.

Ralph reached up to his shoulder and stroked Gumdrop's shell, earning him a happy purring sound from the cy-bug. He couldn't help his eyes as they followed the movement of Chocolette's hips and her still exposed legs. "Nah, she didn't mean it. But Chocolette, you'd have loved it. One minute, it seems like she's gonna let everyone off the hook, then WHAM! The second she said "executed," the look on the Sugar Racers' faces was priceless! All of them started crying and begging for their lives, and then your sister told them she was only joking." The sight of her brushing her long hair was a wondrous sight indeed, keeping his attention as he leaned on the doorframe of the bathroom.

Chocolette looked at his reflection in her mirror and cocked an eyebrow at him, finding it cute how proud he seemed at such a rare display of dark humor from her sister. But she still couldn't wrap her mind around the idea of her sister being slightly 'evil'.

"Perhaps my sister's glitch has twisted her original program a bit." With her hair perfectly combed and dried in soft smooth waves, she whirled around to face him with her legs crossed. "The cavities are a bunch of cry babies though. I would have kept my word if I'd been in Vannie's shoes. The Sour Racers can tell you that much." She sniggered darkly with a sexy smile.

Ralph matched her grin, making sure to keep his eyes locked with hers instead of trailing lower to her crossed legs. "I don't doubt it. To be honest, even I haven't completely forgiven them for how they treated your sister, so I don't mind seeing them getting taken down a peg or two every now and then. The way I see it, every missile you and your Racers launch at them goes a little bit towards helping even out the balance."

Chocolette grinned wider at his dark confession. "Ralphie! That is so not 'nice' of you to think like that...not that I mind." She held her beautiful green eyes with him, looking a bit smitten while playfully twirling a loose ebony curl around her index finger. "I can make you a kart if you wish to give them a lesson one of these days. It's harmless for them of course, as they can always regenerate afterwards."

_'She looks so cute when she does that,'_ he thought, watching as she twirled her hair. Whether he knew it or not, Ralph had delved slightly deeper into his bad-guy code during his banter with Chocolette. "Thanks your highness, but I'm a Wrecker, not a racer. And besides, you never saw them break your sister's kart apart and push her in the mud."

Before Chocolette could respond, there was a knock at the door followed by Razz letting herself in, completely forgetting to wait for the Queen's permission to do so. She was already dressed for the party, wearing a black leather jacket with tiny orange spikes on the shoulders over an orange tank top and a black leather short skirt with black leather boots.

"You ready, Boss?" She asked before gasping in surprise at the sight of Ralph in the room, leaning against the bathroom door, dressed quite nicely, and her queen still in her black robe sitting at her hairdresser with her exposed legs crossed.

Chocolette glared daggers at her for the intrusion while the orange racer blinked nervously at both. She felt the urge to mock her for not being ready but she immediately thought against it, as she knew better than to embarrass her boss level monarch in front of her boss level crush. "Uhmm...am I interrupting something?" She nervously questioned them.

Ralph felt a slight rise in his ire, but he let it slide. After all, Chocolette still called the shots around here. He merely looked over to the villainess and offered a smirk that seemed to say _'what do you think?'_

"Not yet," Chocolette told her in between clenched teeth. She watched as beads of sweat appeared on Razz's forehead, the queen enjoying the sight of her minion sweating it out.

After what seemed like a tense eternity to Razz, Chocolette finally eased her intense gaze. "Get out," she ordered her softly but severely.

Razz gulped and bowed her head apologetically "Y-yes of course! I'm sorry...your grace. We'll wait outside," she stuttered and hurried to leave the room as fast as she could.

Ralph snorted once the evil racer left the room._ 'So, they're also attending to the party, eh?'_ he thought with mild curiosity. "You enjoy terrorizing them, don't you?" Ralph asked, smiling at the Queen. _'Then again, Ralph, didn't you feel the same way when you protected Vanellope?'_ he internally admitted.

Chocolette exhaled deeply as she quelled her programmed fury. She rose to her feet and started to untie her robe while walking towards her black changing screens. "If the fools weren't so clumsy at doing their jobs, I wouldn't have the need to do so! You're lucky you don't have minions," she said with her back at him, smirking and letting the robe slowly slide down her shoulders.

Ralph knew she was teasing him, the sight of her bared back catching his breath in his throat, only to have any further views of anything lower obscured by the screens. "Not really sure what I'd do with them even if I had them. Not really a leader type." He reached into the bathroom and retrieved his jacket, slinging it over his shoulders as he watched her lithe silhouette move behind the screens.

She softly chuckled as she conjured two swirling clouds of smoke around her and they soon started to twirl and dance around her body, shifting into the shape of what seemed to form a dress. She moved her curves in a dancing way as the smoke dressed her. "Oh please! You just haven't had the chance to try it yet! You have a very ... intimidating figure... so you won't really have too much trouble making people obey you...if little ol' me can do it, surely you'd do it without really trying. Maybe one day you'll have your chance" she implied with a seductive lilt to her voice.

Despite the silhouette show he was getting, Ralph couldn't help but laugh at what she was saying. "I may have the body, but I don't have the head for it," he said as he rapped a knuckle lightly against his temple. "No, my dear, there'll be no minions for King Ralph the Wrecker anytime soon."

She stopped dancing and the smoke vanished. "King Ralph the Wrecker?" She repeated softly with a gleeful giggle. "I like the sound of that." And with that, she stepped out from behind the screens.

She was dressed in a somehow semi formal black dress which was really short in the front, a few inches above her knees and dangerously exposing her long legs, while the back tail was longer, reaching her ankles. From the black skirt, black and white swirls went up all along her tight corset until her cleavage, where the two black and white swirling lines almost seemed to form a heart across her generous breasts. Her shoulders were completely exposed, with her long loosened wavy hair brushing delicately over her bare back. She had a smoky night eye make-up applied which highlighted her green eyes incredibly and her lips were painted cherry red, the same color as her heels. She let her bang cover her right eye as she smiled sexily at him. "What do you think?"

The Wrecker decided to take charge and see if he could throw her off balance again. With a confident smirk, he looked her dead in the eye and said, "In thirty one years, I don't think I've seen a more beautiful woman." He folded his arms across his chest and grinned, approving her dress and looking forward to seeing how she danced in it.

She blushed brightly at his honest words and confident smirk, even looking surprised. Chocolette then matched his grin with her own prideful one, planting her hands on her hips and leaning to one side. "Well of course! I have to look good for my date, don't I?" She winked at him.

Ralph simply slipped his jacket back on and walked over to her, offering her one of his massive arms. "Don't you mean you have to look 'bad' for this date, your highness?" he said with a wink of his own.

She let a girly giggle escape. "You're terrible!" She joked and took his arm gladly, walking out of her bedroom with him, while Gumdrop followed them with a happy wag of his tail.

-0-0-0-

Editor's Note: I read your reviews too, just so you know. They are always appreciated and help give us encouragement. This is **The Phantom Soldier**, signing out.


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